I can see you
by Metope
Summary: A panic attack. She had known it was coming for a while now. Actually since the moment she set foot on the dirty soil of this godforsaken land that held nothing but bad memories. And now it was finally here, and no one cared.- Regina struggles,not just with the loss of Henry but also with herself. Does it take a Thief to show a Queen who she really is?OutlawQueen AU from 313 onward
1. One

**One**

It felt as an asthma attack – or so she imagined, as she had never experienced a real asthma attack before, but from the ones she had seen she imagined it to be like this. She desperately wanted cool fresh air to fill her lungs, but a greater power seemed to have decided against that, and so instead her chest heaved as she tried to draw in short laboured breaths, not allowing herself to exhale properly before inhaling already again. Her throat felt thick, as if it was swollen or as if someone was squeezing it shut, and as the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in her body was weighing more and more to only one side, black spots entered her vision.

A panic attack. That's what it was. She had known it was coming for a while now. Actually since the moment she set foot on the dirty soil of this godforsaken land that held nothing but bad memories for her. And now it was finally there. And no one cared.

She stopped walking. No one really noticed her as they walked by, some of them accidentally – or maybe not – brushing past her. She needed it out, and it needed to happen right now, she didn't care what Snow would say, she didn't care what _anyone_ would say. It needed to be done, the pain needed to stop, it needed to be removed, and so it would happen.

"Hey, sister. You're blocking the way." A dwarf. Which one? She did not know. Probably Grumpy judging by the moniker he gave her. Had she reprimanded that enormous bandit earlier for not addressing her properly, she let the insolence of the dwarf slide right now.

Grumpy however, did no such thing. And as she did not move, he decided to trigger a reaction instead by demonstratively walking towards her and actively pushing her with his shoulder as he walked past her. She fell to her knees at the blow, didn't even make an attempt to catch herself from falling, causing her knees to painfully collide with the few rocks and gravel sticking out of the sandy road.

The action of the dwarf caused commotion however. She heard Snow scold Grumpy for misbehaving, and it didn't take long before she felt someone kneel down next to her. She expected it to be Snow, or maybe that infuriating bandit to whose camp they were walking now. But she soon noticed that wasn't the case when the figure next to her turned out to be much smaller.

Curiosity won over the apathetic state she had locked herself into as she blinked a few times to get rid of the black spots. Taking the widening of her eyes as a sign of acknowledgement of their presence the figure next to her blurted out a small. "Hi." And when she did not reply more words followed.

"Why stopped you walking? That sir was not nice to push you. _Papa_ always says you need to use words not fight." The boy that had crouched down next to her couldn't be much older than four or five, she thought, and apparently he wasn't shy. He didn't even need any input to the conversation from her side to continue talking.

"My name is Roland. I am five. Last week I was four, but papa says it was my birthday and now I am five."

She didn't want this. This _hurt_. Really the _only_ thing so far she had been grateful for, had been that she hadn't seen anything yet that directly reminded her of Henry. And now this. Yet as much as she wanted to close herself off completely. As much as she wanted to go into a complete shutdown, she did not. Call it a mother's instinct, call it common sense, or call it the work of those faint red parts of her heart that shimmered through the black maze, but she simply could not be her distant, cold self to this little boy, that – if she was completely honest – had the most adorable brown eyes she had ever seen.

Thus with incredible effort she managed to create a small smile on her face. "You are quite a big boy then already, aren't you?"

She had made the right decision she saw, as a bright smile appeared on the child's face, the pride with what he carried this new age and agreed to her remark amusing her enough to slowly pull her out of the lowest point of the darkness she currently found herself in.

"Yes." He said decidedly and then, "What is your name?"

"I am Regina." She spoke.

"That's a pretty name. When I am big I want to marry a girl with that name."

She would have laughed if she could. But laughing was something she had forgotten how to do. From one moment to another the knowledge how to do it had escaped her, apparently laughing was not like riding a bike, it could be forgotten.

"Why stopped you walking?" He then asked again, making the same grammar mistake as earlier she noticed.

"I...was tired." She lied.

"Oh.." The boy said. "When I am tired my papa carries me. But you are big, so I think he can't carry you."

"Who is your papa?" She wanted to know.

Just then the annoying forest-smelling bandit walked up to her, answering her previously asked question in the process as the boy turned around and jumped up. "Papa!" He exclaimed happily.

"What were you doing Roland? You know you cannot suddenly run off like that."

"I'm sorry, papa." The boy apologized, but as Regina got up from the ground and brushed off the dust from her knees she saw in Roland's eyes that he did not really. "I was talking to R'gina." He said by means of explanation for his behavior.

"Was it a good talk?" The thief asked. It annoyed her greatly that he did not even acknowledge her presence all the while. Not that she wanted to _talk_ to him or anything, but this was just impolite. Then again, what could she expect from a thief?

The boy nodded. "Yes, but 'Gina is tired. So I said that when _I_ am tired you always carry me." Great, Regina thought, within mere seconds the boy had butchered her name and abbreviated it to Gina. She was pulled out of her musings however by a gloved hand that was being put on her shoulder. Her head snapped up only for her eyes to be met with laughing blue ones of the thief in front of her, holding his son on his right arm.

"Well it is quite unfortunate that the Queen is tired, but unfortunately I cannot help her out, as she is much too heavy for me to carry."

Her eyes widened at the insult, fire blazing in her eyes as she abruptly shook his hand off her shoulder. Did he just call her fat? Yes, yes that's what he had done, and judging by the playfulness she noticed in his eyes he had done it on purpose. She raised her hand to blast him away with her magic, but was snapped out of her rage just in time by Roland's innocent and wondered voice. "R'Gina is a Queen?"

She didn't wait for the thief to answer nor did she answer the boy herself. "Your son is what saved your life today, _thief_, but the next time you dare to use such a tone to me there _will_ be consequences." And with that she marched away to catch up with Snow who annoyingly enough had stayed behind to wait for her. Yes, Snow was annoying, but she still preferred her company over that infuriating thief. And so she continued her walk next to her step-daughter as she once again surrendered to the heavy weight of pain and loss that rested on her shoulders.

**Hit me. Tell me what you think. I have certain events already planned for this story, but there are some large gaps still, so if you want to see anything, let me know. Reviews are my writing fuel. I'm a bit conflicted though, as there are so many OQ stories already, so please let me know if you want me to continue or that I shouldn't even bother :P**

**x**

**Metope**


	2. Two

**Follows parts of the storyline of 3.13 – so if you didn't see that one yet, then don't read – I did interpret dialogue between the characters in the ep freely in this chapter.  
**

**Two**

The boy clung to his father, he was so scared that he seemed determined to never let go. Only when the Queen walked up to him and handed him what was now a plush monkey toy did his grip on his father relax a little as he took the toy from her hands.

All the while Robin was intently observing the Queen's behaviour. The way her face had expressed absolute fury and rage when the monkey had tried to grab Roland, and the way it lit up into a smile now she handed him the toy.

It wasn't a real smile, he saw, it was one that really was only there as a means to comfort his son. Her eyes laughed along, but her heart was not in it. Before he could utter a thank you she had turned around again and walked away, set on continuing their journey when Snow White's prince called for an emergency meeting to discuss what was going on.

It was only Snow White who suggested to go along with Regina when she told the group she would lift the protection spell on the castle using the underground tunnels. The rest apparently did not care at all for her well-being, seeing as she was in danger considering this had been the second time in a day that those creatures had tried to attack her.

She dismissively brushed Snow's offered help off however as not being necessary, sending the group a glare that told them she meant it and that she was not to be messed with. Now Robin could read people, he was good at it, and he knew that look meant she did not want anyone to follow her, yet it did not hold him back from ignoring that request.

As soon as she left for the woods he turned to find Little John. Seeing the man animatedly speaking to one of the dwarfs a little down the road he quickly walked towards them, Roland still in his arms.

"Hey there, you gave us quite a scare, little man." John said to Roland as soon as he saw father and son approaching them.

Roland responded by burying his face the crook of his father's neck, still shaken by the past events he suddenly turned into the shy five year old he sometimes could be.

"Well," Robin answered for him, "luckily the Queen was there in time to take him out of harm's way. Which is – "He paused to set Roland down on his feet. "why I wanted to ask you if you can take care of Roland for me tonight. I am going after the Queen to help her taking down the protection spell."

Little John frowned at that. "Didn't she say she didn't want any help? And why would you want to help _her_ – The Queen's reprimand about having respect clearly hadn't made an impact – in the first place?"

"She saved Roland, I owe her." Was his simple explanation. "And besides, those creatures were out for _her_, she isn't save at all, she is walking write into the belly of the beast like this."

The dwarf that Little John had been talking to hadn't said anything so far but now let out a grumpy huff. "Good Riddance."

Robin chose to ignore the unasked comment and John's objections and knelt down to face Roland. "Roland, papa is going on a mission tonight to help the Queen, Little John is going to take care of you, alright?"

"But I want to stay with you." The boy pouted. "Can't I come with you?"

"It's too dangerous, Roland. But I promise, we will be back before you know it."

"I don't want you to go." The five year old objected again, and Robin saw the beginning of tears in the brown eyes he had inherited from his mother.

"Come here." Robin said with a sigh enveloping his son in a loving hug. "Remember how I told you a man always needs to do what is right, always needs to be a man of honour?"

When he felt Roland nod he continued. "Well, the Queen saved you today even though that could have meant she would have been harmed herself. And now she is going after the person who did that all by herself. So I thought I should go and help her as a thank you, don't you think?" He now pulled away from the hug so he could look at his young son's face.

The boy nodded thoughtfully. "Ok." He then said. "You can go, because I like Gina. And we need to be men of h'nour."

"That's my boy." Robin smiled, ruffling his son's hair as he got up and directed his attention back to Little John who had observed the whole conversation with a disapproving scowl on his face. "Please John, take care of Roland."

"I will, for _him_. Not for you. I don't agree with this. You are risking your _life_, you are risking Roland becoming an _orphan_ and for what? To help an Evil Queen, who murdered and cast a curse on hundreds of people in her quest for revenge. I don't see how that fits in our devise of being honourable men at all."

Robin shook his head. "Like I said, she saved Roland, I owe her. And honestly, we never had an encounter, I don't know her at all, and it is not right to judge a book just by its cover, now is it? The princess Snow White seems to trust her, so I will give her the benefit of the doubt for now."

Little John grumbled something intelligible and then growled he would look after Roland.

"It's time for me to go now then." Robin said, crouching down once more so he could give his son a kiss goodbye and wish him goodnight for the night was fast approaching.

He had only set a few steps when he heard Roland call for him, causing him to turn around.

"Papa! When you are back, will you ask Miss R'Gina if she can tell about being a Queen? I never met a Queen before."

"I will ask her, Roland, don't you worry." Robin laughed before waving one last time. "Although I'm not sure if she will be willing to tell him." He added to that to himself, she didn't seem to keen on company, although so far she seemed to have made an exception for his son.

. .

She was startled by the silhouette of someone standing near to a couple of trees when she turned around to throw the heavy stone away with her magic. As soon however as she recognized whom it was the initial shock quickly made place for a royal feeling of annoyance. "No." She said loudly as if she were talking to a three year old that was trying to grab a cookie from the jar.

"No, what?" He countered.

"Do not – " She warned him, a more elaborate vocabulary seemed to be lost to her. It annoyed her greatly but this man's unconventional behaviour towards her threw her off her game. He had never met her, he knew she is the Evil Queen, he stole from the rich – he stole from _her_, yet here he was, wanting to come _with_ her.

"Not coming along? I do believe I am." He said, now walking up to her. "I can help."

She shook her head, following him with her eyes. "I didn't ask for help."

"Well," Robin answered as he inspected the opening to the tunnel. "That doesn't mean you won't need it." He moved back to stand in front of her, moving the torch he was holding a little closer to them so they could see each other's faces. She schooled her features into an uninterested emotionless face, as she stared back into his determined blue eyes – wait, when had she noticed they were blue, when did she care about the looks of _anyone_ but herself?

"Look, that monkey wasn't after Roland. It was after _you_."

She arched an eyebrow "Your point?"

"That's the second time you have been attacked, that wicked witch wants you dead."

"And what? You think _you_ can stop her?" She mocked, who did this thief think he was?

"Maybe, maybe not. But, you see, despite the fact that neither of us likes it, I owe you a debt, you saved my son, and therefore I owe you."

That gave her pause, and she felt her breath stuck in her throat. This was new. Over the past year she had done good several times, yet _never_ had her deeds been valued for what they were. And now here was this man she did not know, who could really only have the stories that went around about her as his point of reference, and _he_ was the one to acknowledge this?

She hummed. "A thief with honour, you sure do not see _that_ every day."

He sent her a smirk of his own , commenting "I think as often as you see an evil queen with a soft spot for children. Now shall we?"

She let out a sigh as she tilted her head, looking up at him through her lashes. "_Don't_ get in my way." She warned before turning around and entering the tunnel.

"Oh, I wouldn't _dream_ of it." The thief mocked pretending to bow for the Queen, the sort of insolent teasing she chose to ignore, it wouldn't be long before she would be freed from this forest-smelling parasite anyways.

..

Oh how she wished she had not let him tag along, now he was pointing an arrow at her. "How _dare_ you point your arrow at me in my own castle!" She barked, her hand immediately moving up as she magically started to choke him.

She had done it a hundred times, even more maybe, and with a fatal end just as often. It worked always, _always_. Even with Snow's prince it worked, he would drop his sword, grab for his throat, that face of his that was already slightly chubby as it usually was would appear to become even more chubby as a red color would grace his cheeks and spread from there. It always worked.

But of course once more the bandit was the exception to the rule. She had let herself be off guard in their way up to the castle. She even had been able to bring herself to have a little conversation with him on the way, some banter, he had told her about his deceased wife and she...she had told him about Henry. Speaking about him, speaking his name, even _thinking_ his name hurt, and that little conversation in the crypt had only convinced her even more that what she was about to do was the right thing. And then he had turned against her, like everyone always did.

"Trust me." He choked out. "No matter what you do, this arrow _will_ leave my bow, and I _never_ miss."

She tightened her grip, closing off his access to air even more, yet to no avail. "I won't ask this again. Now tell me, what manner of dark potion or you making?"

For mere seconds she kept her grip on him, but then his previous words circled through her mind: _Roland already lost his mother, I would hate for him to lose his father too_. And she let go.

"A sleeping curse." She bit out as she turned back to her desk and picked up the flasks she had been holding.

"Like the one you gave Snow White?"

"That one was made by Maleficent. I finally learned how to make one of my own." She said absentmindedly, her attention almost entirely focused on her work.

"Are you going to use it on Witch?"

"The Witch!?" She laughed. Oh how foolish he was. "I don't care about her."

"Then who?"

"Don't worry." She said casting him a glance before sitting down on the chair next to her. "No one you'll miss."

"You are going to drink it yourself." He breathed in realisation. "Regina, you can't do that!"

She snapped her head in his direction, dark eyes flaring as a warning. "_Don't_ tell me what I can and cannot do, _thief_. And you call me by my title, we are definitely _not_ on a first name basis."

He shook his head. "Regina," Would there ever come a day that this man would actually _listen_ to what she told him? "don't do it. You will regret this. I know how you feel. When I lost my wife, I felt like I had lost my reason to live. But then I found a new one, there was Roland. He became my new reason."

She laughed a joyless laugh as she got up from her chair, a bit of the potion now on the end of a pin from her hair. "But that's the thing, I already lost _everything_ to live for. There is nothing left for me. So I _am_ going to take this sleeping curse, and sleep. Because the only reason for me to live, the only reason why I even would _want_ to wake, is my son." A melancholic smile graced her face as soon as she spoke of her son, but it was wiped away just as quick again as she continued. "And as long as he is not here, there is no reason for me to stay awake."

"Sure there is!" Robin countered, and when she did not seem to listen to him he continued. "You need to come back, I promised my son you would tell him a story after we come back."

It was a low blow, he knew that, playing on her mother's instinct just now she had lost her son, and it was then that he met the Evil Queen for the first time that night. He watched in horror how all emotion drained from her face and her eyes became stone cold. "Well, " She said, her tone light and with a certain carelessness in it. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, but that is not my problem."

As soon as he wanted to walk over to her to take the potion away she waved with her hand and he found himself to be glued to the floor. "Don't you worry." She mocked him before he got the chance to say anything himself. "I will stay true to my word. I will lower the protection spell, so that Snow White and her prince can be _victorious_." And turning around, slowly walking to the court yard she added to that. "And then, then I'm going to sleep."

And just like that she left, without releasing him from the spell that held him bound to the floor. Great, he thought, now how would he be freed? What if the Witch would find him? "Regina!" He called at the top of his lungs, but she did not come back.

_Damn it_. He felt torn between feeling hatred towards the woman for doing this to him, and pity – or no, not pity, rather _sympathy_, for her, as he understood very well what she was going through right now. He might have found Roland to live for eventually, but that sure hadn't happened over one day time. No, it had taken several _months_ before he had been able to take care of Roland again, to _love_ Roland again. All that time Little John and the other merry men had taken care of his son. He wasn't proud of that, and he _did_ feel guilty, but he had learned to accept it, he had learned to understand it.

With Marian died not only his wife, not just Roland's mother, no, a piece of him died with her. And it took time for other things in life to fill up that hole that had been left behind with her passing. He wasn't sure if he could have done it without the endless support of his merry men. And that is what Regina missed, he realised. There was no one to support her to get through her grief – because dead or not dead, she _was_ grieving over her son – and as such there was no one who could help her find her new reason.

And he didn't know why, and he didn't know if it would be a clever thing to do, but right in that moment he vowed that he would be that support for her. He would be the one to help her find a new reason to live. Because be it as it may, Evil Queen or not, his heart told him that was the right thing to do, and if there was one thing Robin of Locksley trusted, it was his heart.

So having that decided he once more tried to pull his feet loose from the floor, and when that did not work – of course – he let out another frustrated scream. "REGINA! Come back here!"

He didn't expect anyone to answer, and was as such startled when a reply was sent his way. "No need to shout, dear. I am here already."

He looked up to see her re-enter the palace, yet her appearance and tone of voice alarmed him. Her voice sounded higher, stronger and more confident than before, as she had sickeningly sweet and overly happy smile plastered on her face, a very fake smile at that. She walked up to her desk with confident large strides, waving her hand towards him, freeing him with her magic.

"You were right." She stated. "I _did_ just need to find a new reason to live."

"You found one?" He asked tentatively, stepping closer to her.

She looked up to him after she had safely locked the sleeping potion away. "Oh yes I did." She said, a grin on her face.

"That's great." He dared to say, maybe he didn't need to help her then after all, although a little voice in his mind said something was off. " What is it?" He therefore asked.

"Something, I haven't had in a _very_ long time." She grinned, and her voice dropped as she continued. "Someone, to destroy."

And that was the second time that night Robin saw the infamous Evil Queen, terror clasped his heart as he watched how her eyes were dark and wild, and lit up when she spoke about destroying this person, how her red painted lips were shaped into a – he would almost say _wicked_ – grin, and right there he knew his self invented quest was long from finished. It would be quite a task to help this Queen back into the light, but he would do it, he was determined to do so.

And why? He did not really know, because he was bored maybe – there hadn't really happened anything big in this land since the curse - , or maybe for Roland – seeing as his son seemed to have taken a liking to the woman - , or maybe it was because he felt strangely attracted to this woman, but _that_ was something he would not admit, not even to himself.

**I am overwhelmed by all your kind reviews and the amount of followers and favs this story already has after one chapter! Thank you all so much! **

**Now here is the thing for this story, I need your opinion, and please do reply to the following ****question.**

**After this chapter I'm going to move away from the canon events in the chapters, and that means I can do two things:**

**A. I leave the group to stay longer in FTL so I can let more things happen to them while in FTL, in that case I will tell the story from Storybrooke and go back to the past in FTL using flashbacks.**

**B. I follow the time set out by the show itself and leave them in FTL for only a year, in that case I will tell the story chronologically, so we won't visit Storybrooke before the year is over.**

**Scenario A leaves me the possibility to derive more from what happens in the show, whereas in Scenario B there is the risk of more chapters in the style of this chapter, thus a mere retelling at some points of the episodes. Personally I lean more towards scenario A, but I am not sure if you would want them to spend more time in FTL. I do want to make clear that in that case next chapter would take off in Storybrooke (AU for we haven't really seen any Regina-Robin interaction in SB as of yet) with a flashback to FTL, whereas in B we won't visit Storybrooke for quite some time.**

**Please let me know what you think both of this proposition and of this chapter! I am open to suggestions!**

**xx**

**Metope**


	3. Three

**Three**

That witch was a fraud. She didn't know _how_ she had done it, but somehow she had managed to break through the blood magic spells, and she would find out how...and then _destroy_ her.

Her sister, _half_-sister, did she call herself, the nerves! That wasn't true, naturally that wasn't true. She was her mother's only daughter. And she had been enough, Cora had said so herself. It was incredibly cruel and rude of that woman to suggest otherwise, and she would pay for that.

Angrily she walked up and down the length of the room she was in, her former bedchamber. The thief had gone to wait for the others at the gate, now the witch had left there was no reason not to take residence in the castle after all. He had left her alone, and that was a good thing, because she was angry, _furious_ really, and she did not wish for any person, or thief for that matter, to bother her. Not while she was trying to concoct an evil plan to take this witch down, not while she let her anger consume her, while let the darkness feed on her once more.

A reason to live, Robin had called it. Well, she wouldn't say her current state could be called _living_, but at least the anger had left her aching heart numb, and that was something. And so she let the darkness take over, let the magic fill her veins, let it crackle at her fingertips, let the rage run through her body, until –

"Regina!" She whirled around and revelled in the fear that she saw in her former – former? Yes she guessed it was former now she had found her new enemy in this green toad – arch nemesis' eyes as the latter looked at her.

"Yes, dear." She smiled brightly. "Didn't the thief and I do a marvellous great job? The castle, all for ourselves."

Snow did not return the smile, instead she walked up to the queen, followed by her husband and said thief. "What happened?" She inquired.

Regina sighed. "Well, we went through the tunnels, entered the castle, I lowered the protection spell as I said I would, after which you presumably walked over here seeing as you are standing in front of me now, and you do not possess any magic as far as I know."

She saw with glee how the princess was working herself up over her teasing behaviour, but of course the peasant had to ruin all the fun by placing a sickeningly sweet hand on his wife's shoulder before addressing her. "Regina, don't play games. What about the witch?"

"Oh the witch!?" She feigned surprise. "Don't you worry about her. That witch is as of now a mere nuisance I myself shall deal with."

Snow's lips formed a thin line as she shook her head. "No. Don't do this Regina. Don't close yourself off. Robin told us what you were going to do."

She huffed, that stupid thief, couldn't even keep his mouth shut, no wonder he and Snow seemed to be best buds already. "But I didn't, so let's not dwell on the past, shall we?"

As she turned around she saw that obese friend of the thief standing in the doorway with Roland on his arm. "I would like to be left alone now, thank you very much. And thief, your child needs his father." She said haughtily – anything to get them out of her bed chamber – before fully turning her back on them, noticing from the corner of her eye that at least the bandit did as she told him and walked over to his son.

Snow however did not listen as she heard footsteps follow her towards the window and then a hand on her shoulder turning her around. "Regina. No."

"Dear, you never were an obedient child, but I do advice you so to try now, as I am losing my patience." She hissed as her eyes sent a warning glare towards the younger woman.

However Snow wasn't fazed in the slightest by her step-mother's behaviour. She had known Regina for quite some time now – maybe longer than she would like to – and she knew this kind of behaviour, this was Regina pushing everyone away, this was the Regina that was so hurt, so lost, and also _scared_ of something, that she did not see any other way out than resolving into anger and fury, with darkness as her only companion. Well, she wouldn't let it happen. She wouldn't allow it, not this time

"Regina, " She spoke calmly. "Just tell us what happened."

The queen took her time to respond but finally said. "Will you all leave if I do?"

Snow nodded and the older woman huffed. "Fine." She bit out. "I had just lowered the protection spell as she confronted me. Claiming all sorts of things, then threatening she wanted to end me. Of course I told her that she could if she wanted to, in the end, I really have nothing left to lose." Her mask of played annoyance slipped for only a second as she hinted on the loss of her son, before it was back in place. "But she claimed that not to be true. She then threatened to take everything away from me. And _that_, my dear, is something I do not let pass unpunished. No one, _no one_, threatens the Evil Queen and gets away with it!" Regina's voice had a raw edge to it as her anger roared with every word she spoke.

Snow had to admit, she was slightly frightened by the woman in front of her. Not because of the bold statements she made, but by the way her eyes flared up and portrayed utter rage as the woman got herself worked up over what she called 'the insolence of that green toad to dare to say such things to her'.

"Regina, "She therefore started once the Queen had finished venting. "please promise me you do not plan on doing something radical before you have thought this through."

She knew those were tricky words to say as they could easily offend the woman in front of her, but thank the gods, the queen did not take offense, she shrugged instead. "I will deal with her as I see fit."

"And how is that?" Snow asked, arching her eyebrow. Regina was a brilliant witch, talented, clever, but she also let herself be led by her emotions, which was both a quality and a flaw in the woman. Good emotions could make her into the most loving and caring woman you had ever met, negative emotions however turned her into an impulsive and unpredictable danger, both to herself and others. "By the same way you tried to kill me?" She continued. "Because that worked out _so_ well." It was harsh maybe, but she needed to get Regina to see that rushed actions would not benefit anyone right now.

"Oh, what do _you_ know of any of this, Snow." The queen snarled.

"Not much maybe, "The woman gave in. "But enough to know that this woman we are up against cannot be dealt with as easily as you think. Robin told me she broke through your spells that were done with blood magic. No one can do that, Regina. She must be incredibly strong."

The Queen shrugged. "Then I will be stronger."

Snow shook her head in irritation. "You _know_ it is not smart to take any radical actions right now, Regina. You are only saying this now because she got you all riled up, don't you see this is what she probably wanted? For you to act without having thought through any of this, so that she can attack when you are in a weaker position."

The Queen growled in annoyance. Snow was right, deep down she knew she was. But she was just so angry! And the fact that she had to admit defeat to this flake of snow did not help at all. She felt the conflicting feelings swirling inside of her as darkness and rage battled with her sense of rationality.

She felt ready to explode, highly annoyed by all the people still present in her chamber, whereas she had explicitly requested anyone to leave. As her eyes scanned the room she saw Charming – his hand annoyingly on his sword, ready to pull it, as if she were still planning on attacking his annoying wife – Snow, standing right in front of her, and in the back Robin and that fat helper of his, talking animatedly, seemingly having an argument as well. Rage built up inside of her, they needed to go away, they needed to get out, she couldn't _think_ like this. She would –

And then just like that all her thoughts were halted as she felt a small body crash into her with a high voice calling "R'Gina! You are back!"

As by magic – oh the irony there was not lost on her – she felt all the rage disappear, as she looked down at the young boy that now had his arms wrapped around her leg as he happily looked up to her with a big grin.

"Roland." She breathed, surprise audible in her voice.

"Hi." He grinned. "Papa says I have to go to sleep. Will you bring me to bed? I want you to tuck me in. And then you can tell me a story. Papa said he asked you if you could tell me about being a Queen. I never meeted a Queen before, you are my first Queen." The boy rambled, the adrenaline of the events of the day in combination with whatever food they had fed him clearly resulting in this world's version of a sugar rush. However by the way his eyes stood her motherly knowledge told her it wouldn't take long before that rush would come to an end.

Slowly she looked up, her eyes searching for the boy's father, locking with the blue orbs as soon as she had found them. The thief gave her an approving nod. It annoyed her – of course, because when did something that man did _not_ annoy her? Did he really think she was asking for his permission? Well, she was, but it was not up to him to _assume_ such a thing, she was the Queen, she did whatever she wanted, if she would want to be the one to bring this boy to bed, she would, approval of his father or not.

"Regina?" The boy asked impatiently, directing her attention back to him.

She flashed him a smile as she nodded. "I feel honoured to be the first Queen you met, Roland." She spoke. "And I would be happy to tell you a story before you go to sleep."

"Yay!" The boy exclaimed in happiness, after which he held both his arms up, looking at her expectantly.

"Oh." Regina murmured in realisation, and then she smiled uncomfortably at the boy's excitement, feeling the eyes on her of the adults in the room. Slowly she bent through her legs before moving her arms out to envelop the boy, carefully lifting him up in his arms. "Let's go then, shall we?" She asked once he comfortably leaned his arm on her shoulder, half turning his body so he could look where they were going as she had settled him on her hip.

"Yes." The boy said happily, completely oblivious to how the others were observing the interaction between him and the queen.

**Thanks all of you for helping me out with where to go with this story! I have been able to make a choice, so it will become clear soon enough which path I have chosen to take!**

**You asked for more Regina-Snow and Regina-Roland, so I hope you liked this chapter, of the latter there is more to come in the next chapter, as that will start right after where this one leaves off, more OutlawQueen is ensued there as well.**

**I am overwhelmed by all the follows, favs and reviews, and I want to thank you all once again! Please be as kind as to review this chapter again, as they really trigger me to get these chapters done a bit faster !**

**x**

**Metope**


	4. Four

**Four**

She tried her hardest to suppress the storm of emotions rushing through her. Roland was what was preventing her from falling apart, his presence, as he sat on her hip with his arms wrapped around her neck, kept her together.

She had slipped. Without a second thought she had almost let herself entirely succumb to darkness once more. These dark thoughts...they had been able to master her in mere seconds.

"R'Gina?" The boy's innocent voice pulled her out of her reveries.

"Hm, yes dear?" She made sure her voice would sound light, not transposing her dark anxious thoughts on the five year old in her arms.

"Where am I going to sleep?" That made her pause, turning her face to look at Roland, she smiled at him and tipped his nose with her index finger.

"Why, would you believe I haven't even thought about that yet? Do you know where all the others sleep?"

He shrugged. "In a biiiig hall." He spread his arms apart to indicate the size of said hall and Regina nodded. He probably meant the ballroom. She had heard Snow mentioning they had transformed the large room into a sort of dorm for the many citizens, seeing as there weren't enough bedrooms or guestrooms in the palace for everyone. However, she did not like the idea of Roland sleeping unsupervised in that large hall.

Merry men to look after him or not, a child needed to be in a safe environment, and seeing as the thief now apparently had worked its way up in the 'social circles' and was now trusted as a reliable ally thanks to his apparent connection to Rumpelstiltskin's son and the bookworm, it wasn't likely that he would be able to go to check on his son anytime soon.

And so she quickly decided that there really was only one solution. "I know just the place for you." She spoke to him, and she continued her walk to the room she had in mind.

Setting down Roland back on the floor she conjured a key to open the locked door that prevented them from entering. This room had been locked for quite some time, she hadn't been in here for many, many years.

The first thing Roland said once she had opened the door and they had walked inside was: "It's pink." And he scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"It was the room of Princess Snow White when she was a little girl." Regina explained. "I know it isn't quite a boy's room, but it keeps you safe and warm and it has a nice big bed."

He turned to look around the room, on his right he saw the large bed the Queen had spoken about, it was so big he probably would need help to get into it – but it was still pink. Just like the carpet and the wallpaper on the walls, and the wardrobe on the left, and the sides of the large mirror next to it...and the chest that probably held all sorts of princessy little girls toys. "But I will be here all alone?" He then asked, turning around to face Regina again.

Regina nodded. "At least until your papa goes to sleep, then you're papa will be with you." She assumed Roland was used to sleeping with Robin in one bed – or in one tent, or under one blanket, she didn't really know how these bandits lived.

By the confirming nod she received from Roland she knew she was right. "But why can't I sleep in the hall with the other people?" He really didn't like all the pink.

Regina sighed. "Because there is no one to look after you there, here I can stay with you until you fall asleep and check on you until your papa goes to sleep."

"Why can't you do that in the hall?" He objected.

"Because not all people like me as much as you do, not everyone likes having me around." She might as well be honest with him, she had gone through this phase with Henry as well; They wanted to know everything, but were clever enough by that age to know when your answer was genuine and when it was just an answer to make them stop asking.

"Oh." Roland replied at that, staring at his shoes. "That's stupid people then." He muttered, causing a small tug at the corners of her mouth, not enough to smile, but just enough to make her heart feel just a tiny bit lighter for only a second.

The little boy then looked around the room again, an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach when she saw how his eyes rested on a place on the wall next to the wardrobe on the left. Seemingly there was nothing but wall there, but who looked better saw that a door was cut out in the wallpaper. And Roland was the typical five year old who indeed looked better..

"What's behind that door?" He asked, setting curious steps in the direction of said door.

"Nothing." Regina quickly replied, walking up to the bed and pushing the covers back. "Why don't we get you into bed now shall we?" She tried to divert his attention but to no avail.

"Nothing? How come nothing?" The boy asked with a frown, setting a few more steps towards the door.

"Oh, just...nothing that could ever be interesting to a boy your age." She made up. "Just...all of Snow White's princess dresses."

At that the boy turned around to face her. "She has a room for clothes?" He asked astounded.

"Oh yes." Regina nodded, glad to have captured his attention. "She had so many and they were so big, they didn't fit in the wardrobe anymore, so they were transferred to that room. Now...let's get you to bed so I can tell you that story you asked for, shall we?"

As soon as she mentioned the story Roland recalled that the Queen had promised to tell him about how it was to be a Queen, and his previous excitement returned. "Yes!" He exclaimed happily, happily bouncing towards her, and giggling when she tickled his stomach once she had lifted him on the bed.

"Well, let's see...I don't assume you have nightwear with you, do you?" She asked.

The boy shook his head. "How about...this?" With a wave of her hand she conjured a blue pair of pyjamas. Roland's eyes went wide when he saw it, he still wasn't used to seeing magic.

"Thanks you 'Gina!" He exclaimed happily.

"You are welcome, Roland." Regina smiled before helping him change.

Once he was settled under the covers she grabbed a chair so she could sit next to him. "Well, what story do you want me to tell?"

"About when you were Queen." The boy stated, as if it was abundantly clear with that answer what it was he wanted to hear.

However Regina's eyes saddened at his answer, a story about when she was Queen? What on earth could she tell him? Her time as the Evil Queen wasn't exactly child friendly, and her time before that...well...let's just say she made it to her personal daily quest to think as little as possible about her time as Leopold's wife.

"Hm..how about...I tell you a story about something else? Being a Queen isn't nearly as fun as you think it to be."

"Ahwww." The boy pouted. "But I wanted to hear from you, because you are a Queen, and you are my _first_ Queen!"

"_But_, " Regina started, "I can _also_ tell you about something much more exciting, a story that is much more fun..." She let her eyes light up a little as she said that to get the boy curious, and with success.

"What then?" He asked as he pressed his back against the pillows in his back, leaning his head back. He was already getting tired.

"I can tell you about _knights_, how about that?"

His eyes grew round. "Knights!" He breathed, it was almost comical how she slowly saw the excitement appear on his face as his little mind was remembering what it knew about knights, and how _truly_ exciting and brave they indeed were.

"But, if you _really_ want to hear a boring story about Queens..." She let her teasing voice trail off as she purposely avoided his gaze, yet saw from the corner of her eyes how Roland shook his head.

She looked up when a small hand was placed on her arm, and she saw Roland had crawled out from under the covers so he could reach her. "Regina, " He started, his face comically serious. "you can tell about being Queen another night, and tell me about knights now okay?"

She found it amusing how he had cleverly turned the situation around like that, making it look like _she_ had been the one to persist on telling about being a Queen, and not him, but she didn't say anything of it. She nodded instead, placing her hand on his. "I think that is a fair deal to make, young man. Now, get back under the covers then, so we can start."

..

When Regina returned Snow immediately saw something was off. The dark and furious look that had dominated her features before Roland had talked to her was completely gone, as was the confused look that had been there when she had taken Roland with her and left. Instead, there was a haunted and lost look in her eyes, much like the one that had been there when they had just got here. She was back to grieving again.

"Roland is asleep in your former room, Snow." She said curtly as she reached them not caring at all she was interrupting the conversation they were having, and then she turned to Robin. "Ask someone who knows the way here how to get there, the bed is big enough for the both of you and Roland is expecting you to go there once you go to sleep. Now I want everyone to leave my chambers and move this talk elsewhere, your presence has annoyed me for long enough."

It was a classic Regina, insulting everyone around her, pushing everyone away as far as possible so they would not see she herself was vulnerable in that moment. "But shouldn't we discuss the – " David started, but Snow held up her hand.

"No. We can discuss that elsewhere as well. Regina is right, we have made us of her hospitality enough already as it is. If she wants privacy now, that is fair of her to ask."

"But she didn't really _ask_ for it, did she now?" Grumpy spat.

"I don't have to _ask_ for anything, this is _my_ palace. I do as I please." Regina snapped back. "But it is alright, if you do not want to leave on your own accord, I will simply have to take matters into my own hands." And with a wave of her hand she made all the adults disappear. With a sigh she let herself fall back into a chair, a terrible headache made itself known to her and in an attempt to alleviate the pain she raised her hands to her temples to softly massage her skin.

She liked Roland, and even if she would try her hardest not to, her motherly instinct almost _forced_ her into taking care of this boy who so obviously was in need of a mother figure in his life. Yet as soon as she had left his room guilt had taken master of her heart. Was she replacing Henry with this boy? She had chuckled at a little joke Roland had made, wasn't she supposed to be sad and grieving? She _lost_ her _son_. And as soon as _that_ thought crossed her mind for the umpteenth time that day the harsh reality of those words came crashing down back on her again, and she felt all the angst and worries wash away as her heart went numb again.

She nearly let out an unladylike yelp when she was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts.

"Is there a particular reason you _poofed_ everyone away except for myself?"

She knew that voice. Quickly she got up out of her chair and turned into the direction the voice was coming from. "I –" How was this possible? Her magic had failed? "My magic must have failed to notice you when I sent everyone away. You see, it was instructed to teleport all _human beings_ present, and with that forest smell that is still prominently hanging around you, my magic naturally must have thought you were 'herbal decoration'." She quickly sassed him.

He sent her a fake smile in response as he walked up to her. "Well, your majesty, don't you worry. I'm going to have a belated dinner, and then will make sure to bath long enough for your magic not to get confused next time."

"I sincerely do hope a next time will not occur." She retorted, mirroring his body language by stepping closer to him as well, he was only slightly taller than she was thanks to her high heels.

She expected him to be insulted, but instead he scrunched up his nose. "Oh forgive me your majesty." He spoke with feigned embarrassment. "It's just...it is only now that I understand how _disturbing_ that forest smell must be for you. It seems to have gotten to you as well, due to your walk through the forest. I will make myself scarce and go for a bath right away." And before she could even _process_ the fact that this mere thief had dared to insult the _Evil_ Queen by implying she _smelled_, he had already made his way out of the chamber. The chuckle that left the man's lips and echoed through the halls, was followed by the sound of glass shattering against the wall next to the open door, as the Queen had thrown a wine glass out of fury. Not so much because she was insulted, but because she was terribly angry...angry with herself, because: Since when did the Queen _care_ what people said to her?

**I am terribly sorry for the long wait! I had exam week and during that week I got the flu, so I was completely dead for the past few days. But here it is, le update ;)! So yeah..some Roland fluff and some OutlawQueen banter was in there...and what is **_**really**_** behind that door in Roland's room?**

**I am super duper amazed by the amount of followers this story got already! The notifications of reviews, followers and favourites to this story I got throughout the entire week really motivated me to get this chapter done as soon as possible, so thanks for that!**

**Please leave a review! They are my writing fuel!**

**x**

**Metope**


	5. Five

**Five**

**Enchanted Forest**

It took her half an hour to calm down a bit. She hated this, she hated all of this. She _just_ wanted to be _alone_. No Snow, no David, no Tink, no Grumpy with his stupid accusations all the time, no Granny or Ruby and above _all_ no thief. That would mean no Roland either, but at this point she would gladly give that up if it meant that unnerving thief would be gone out of her life as well.

She sighed. She needed to go check up on Roland, see if he was still peacefully sleeping. To her delight the halls were empty, and she did not run into anyone but the occasional servant: those who had been servants in the palace before the curse had taken up their positions again, seeing as they were the only ones who know their way in the immense palace.

When she reached Roland's room, she noticed the door was slightly ajar, just like she had left it. The boy didn't like the idea of sleeping in a closed off room, a habit probably coming from the fact that he was used to sleeping out in the open. The room was dark and silent, _too_ silent to her liking actually, she didn't even hear the sound of his breathing.

She rushed to push the door open and enter the room and quickly created a fire ball in her hand to serve as a light source only to see that what she feared was right: Roland was not in his bed. She scanned the room to check if the boy was somewhere to be seen, but she really was the only one present. Everything was still the same, except...a chair was now lying on its side in front of the door that led to the other room.

Her heart sank as she realised what that probably meant. He had used the chair to get to the door handle to open the door, had gone through, the door had fallen closed again, and with the chair in front of it he couldn't open it anymore.

Quickly she moved to lift the chair and push it away from the door. She then took a deep breath. "Come on, Regina. It is only a stupid room." She murmured to herself, trying to give herself the courage to open the door that led to _that_ room.

With one swift movement she pushed the handle and swung the door open, walking backwards along with the door so she did not have to look into the room. "Roland?" She asked. "Sweetie are you there?"

"Regina!" The boy immediately cried upon hearing her, his voice hoarse from crying and yelling. "You came! I yelled but no one heard me!" He cried. "You lied to me, there are no dresses here, there is a bed here too!" The hurt in his voice wasn't lost to her and it pained her greatly. Maybe she really wasn't cut out to be a mother after all, this was the _second_ child that she hurt by not speaking the truth, even though she did so in this case because she _couldn't_ speak the truth.

"I – I am sorry, dear. And I am sorry no one heard you. These walls are really thick." She replied from behind the door. "But I found you now, so why don't you get out of there and I will tell you another story if you want to."

"I can't." He sniffed.

She frowned. "You can't? Why is that?"

"I'm scared." He sniffed.

So now there was a problem. Roland was scared, he was in a dark room and he had been locked up there for what probably seemed an eternity to him, and he didn't dare to move, there was absolutely no way that he was going to come out there by himself. And that was a problem...because there was _no way_ that she was going in there either...

**Roughly 1,5 year later - Storybrooke**

She woke up with a headache that should get an award for being the worst headache of the century. Slowly she sat upright, leaning her head against the headstand of her bed, one hand raised to her temple the other loosely lying on top of her duvet. The sleeve of her silk pyjama top of the arm she had raised slid down, and that was the moment that she realised something.

Her eyes, that had been closed up until then popped open and a sharp gasp left her lips as she took in the room she was in. The irony wasn't lost on her. She had woken up which much of the same reaction many years ago, the only thing different this time where the fact that she hadn't had the _intention_ to wake up here this time, nor was the gasp a gasp of joy, rather of shock and panic, and then there was this headache...

Within seconds she was out of bed and within minutes she had showered and got dressed. This didn't make sense, nothing made sense. She should have woken up in the Enchanted Forest, Pan's curse had failed, _that_ much was clear, but her own curse had failed apparently as well, and _that_ she did not understand.

Did that mean Henry was still here? Did that mean it had all been a bad dream – or rather a nightmare from hell? For a moment she stood still in her bedroom as she thought what she could do to find out, and then it hit her: Henry's room! If it would still be there than _surely_ that meant Henry was here too, wouldn't it?

Walking faster than she had ever done she made her way to the hall, rushing over to her son's bedroom door where she paused. This was the moment of truth, once she would open that door she would know. Slowly she moved her hand to the doorknob, pushing the handle down and the door open.

She should have prepared better. The force of what she saw hit her square in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs, pushing her down on her knees, gasping for air as tears started to fall, her knees collided with cold wooden carpet. Yes. Wood. No blue carpet, but wood. No blue walls but cold white ones. No discarded clothes, shoes or toys decorated the floor, no it was all empty, no bed, no wardrobe, no desk, not even his swan night light was there.. it was just an empty, white, room.

"Henry.." She whimpered, her arms wrapping around herself in an attempt to comfort herself as she let the tears fall.

"What did you do to us?" She was startled by the loud booming voice that fit the widow Lucas' character so well. She turned around to see the woman standing in the doorway. She didn't even _try _to wipe the tears of her face, the pain was too much, she didn't care.

"I did _nothing_." She snapped, and more tears fell as the pain was still so raw. "I don't under_stand_. We are still here, but – but _Henry_ is not. So it wasn't a dream and – "

"You don't know what happened either." The older woman said in realisation.

Regina shook her head as she turned back to face the white wall. "Why are you here?" Her voice was monotone but the tremor that was in there betrayed her inner emotions.

"All I know is that one moment we were all at the town line, and the next I wake up lying on the carpet in your living room with Snow on the couch."

"So Snow White is here too?" Regina sighed as she got up from the floor and wipe the tears from her eyes. Gesturing she wanted to leave, Granny moved out of the doorway to let Regina pass. She closed the door behind her and magically locked it. She didn't want to go in that room ever again as long as it was this white walled empty place.

"Where is she now?" Regina inquired as they went to descend the stairs.

"She is still in the living room. She woke up with...quite a situation..."

"Does she ever _not_ create any problems for herself?" Regina sighed annoyed.

"Well it is _your_ curse who failed, it is not her fault." Granny retorted causing Regina to stop abruptly and turn around. "My curse did _not_ fail." She bit back. "Something must have tempered with it, but the fact that Henry's room is _gone_ proves that something did indeed happened."

She couldn't continue he rant as both women were startled by loud wailing coming from the living room. "Who's that?" Regina breathed as she rushed down the last few steps of the stairs and went into the living room.

Regina couldn't help but let her mouth fall open at what she saw. There Snow was walking slow circles around her coffee table with an infant of about a year in her arms, she bounced the boy in her arms a little in an attempt to quite the child down.

She had her back towards Regina, which gave the latter the opportunity to look at the child's face. The chin, green eyes and dark patch of hair that graced the child's head were unmistakable signs that _this_ very much seemed to be a Charming.

"That's – That –" But what it was she could not say, for a loud banging on the door was heard followed by voices yelling.

"Witch! Open up! We know you are in there! What did you do!"

"Ugh, just great, and of _course_ these idiots go to blame me _immediately_ without even trying to find out what has happened, first." Regina growled.

"Well, Regina, in all fairness. It _is_ your curse that was casted, and we most certainly did not end up in the Enchanted Forest as you said we would." Granny said who had followed Regina into the living room.

"We don't know that. Something else might have happened. _Clearly_ time has passed, judging by the state you are in, we just do not seem to remember it. For all I know we might just as well have indeed gone to the Enchanted Forest, and then something or someone sent us back again!"

Granny snorted. "Call me when you have a theory that is more believable, girl."

The former mayor replied with a glare before marching to her front door. "Well, I have had some practice with these kind of events in the past, this will be my third angry mob at the door." Her was sarcastic as she schooled her features into an unimpressed glare before swinging open the door.

**Back to the Enchanted Forest where we left off**

He was just discussing with the Princess Snow White and the others what their next step in taking down this witch would be when a servant walked up to them.

"Uhm.." He started, he made an anxious impression and his voice wavered. "The mayor – no, no, the _Queen_ has requested the presence of Robin Hood immediately. He is to go to the bedroom his son is sleeping in at once."

Robin frowned. "Did the Queen tell you why?"

The servant nervously shook his head. "She just said it was very urgent and that it had to do with your son."

"Something is wrong." Robin stated, more to himself than to anyone else. "Please take me there at once." He asked the servant who nodded and turned around gesturing him to come along.

"I will go with you, Robin." Snow spoke as she quickly caught up with them and together the three adults rushed to the room in which their presence was requested.

When they entered the room they saw Regina sitting on a chair next to an open door that led to a dark room. Relief crossed her face as soon as she saw Robin, but it was gone just as quick when she saw Snow was with them too.

"I specifically asked for _just_ the thief." She snapped at the servant. "What is _she_ doing here."

"I decided to come at my own accord." Snow said, the servant used her answer to get out of the room. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Robin's son?"

"Where is he?" Robin inquired, noticing his son was not in the room.

"Well," Regina said in a clipped voice. "That's the thing. I went to check up on him and he was not in his room, it turns out your son went on a little exploring trip, used a chair to open this door, went through it, then the chair fell, blocking the door so he got locked in. When I removed the chair and opened the door he was crying, I told him to come out, but he wouldn't he said he was too scared. So...I sent a servant to come and get you so you can get him out. In the meantime I told him a story and I guess he fell asleep because somewhere halfway the story there was no five year old interrupting me every second with another question."

"Ah, I see." Robin said. "And...why is it I needed to come? Couldn't you have gone to get him yourself instead of letting him be afraid in a dark room much longer? Or is that beneath the Queen?"

"I – I simply refuse to go in _that_ room. And I don't need to justify myself in front of you." Regina snapped, and by the glare she sent both him and Robin she made clear she did not want to discuss the matter any further.

Robin didn't press the matter any further either. The Queen might have wanted to come across as regal and unimpressed but the hint of fear in her eyes hadn't been lost on him. She was afraid of that room, or something in that room, and _that_ is why she had not wanted to go in there.

"What is in that room anyways?" He inquired therefore.

"That – That was Regina's old bedchamber, from before my father died.." Snow said hesitantly when it was clear Regina was not about to answer, the queen was actively studying her hands that were lying in her lap instead.

Robin frowned, what had happened in that room that made her react like this? "Well...bedrooms can be quite...scary I guess." He therefore said, trying to drop the matter, but it had been the wrong thing to say.

"Just go get your son." She snapped, getting up from the chair turning her back towards the door and the two adults. Snow smiled apologetically at Robin who shrugged. "Well...I will go rescue my son then." He tried to joke before going in the room.

It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the complete darkness there, but once he got used to it he was able to make out several objects in the room. A large bed, a dressing screen decorated with golden curls, with a dressing table next to it. He then spotted his son, a sleep on the floor under said dressing table. He was about to walk to it when something caught his eye. On his left on the floor he spotted a wrinkled piece of paper.

He didn't know why, but without thinking really he crouched down and picked it up, stuffing it in his pocket before continuing to walk to his son. Carefully he took the sleeping boy in his arms and turned around.

"Oh, there he is, all save." Snow smiled as soon as he reappeared in the other room. "Yes..." Robin spoke but his eyes were fixed on Regina. A small smile of relief had momentarily crossed her face upon seeing Roland in his son. But when her eyes met his and she noticed he was looking at her she schooled her features back into that angry scowl that had been there for the larger part of the day.

"Great. Then I can leave." She murmured, and without caring in the slightest about the confused look on Snow's face she marched out of the room.

But Robin understood. She wasn't angry, she wasn't leaving, she wasn't not caring. She was scared. She was scared and she was escaping, and he was determined to find out for what.

**I promise the next chapter will be all OutlawQueen interaction again. I just needed to build up some foundation for the start of that relationship first ;-). Aaaaaaand we went to Storybrooke in this chapter. What did you think? **

**Please leave a review **

**x**

**Metope**


	6. Six

**Six**

**Storybrooke**

"Why hello there, how lovely of you all to decide that the first thing you wanted to do after waking up was seeing me." She spoke in the sweetest voice with the brightest smile when she opened the door.

"Witch!" The grumpy dwarf immediately yelled. " What did you do to us!?"

"And _why_ do you people automatically assume that _I_ did this?" Regina snapped.

" You cursed us before, didn't you? And now you did it again! Something happened, that is for sure, people have changed, apparently time has passed but just like with the last curse, we don't remember it!" One of the other dwarfs called, the whole crowd had gathered around her porch, but none of them had dared to walk up the few steps to the door so far.

Regina simply quirked an eyebrow at the accusation. " Well. I have to disappoint you. It wasn't me, I have no recollection of any past events, just like all of you I remember standing at the town line and then waking up here."

" She is lying!"

" Regina, please, tell us the truth, we will understand." That was the infuriating bug, speaking.

She huffed. " I just did that!"

" Liar!" Someone else called, and it seemed to be the cue for the mob to decide to come closer to her.

" Stay back!" She warned, a fireball appearing in her hand. " Do not come any closer if you don't want to get burned!"

It was then that someone boldly started to make its way through the crowd. " Regina! Regina!" She sighed, she knew that voice, that very...annoying voice, and it didn't take long before the blonde haired man that went with that voice was visible. " What happened? What did you do to my wife? Where is Snow?" David ran up the few steps to her porch and halted right in front of her.

"Hello to you too dear." The former Queen smiled sweetly. "Your wife is safely in my living room, together with the widow Lucas. They woke up in my house, gods know how. I am willing to let you pass, but only if you make this infuriating bunch of peasants leave my property before I lose it."

"How do I know that you speak the truth?" He growled, if all of this is your doing, you might as well be lying to me now."

"Well I am not, you will just have to trust me on that." She spat, stepping up to him so their faces were mere inches apart.

"Regina, do not play games with me right now.." The man warned, she had to admit...she admired that about him, he wasn't scared easily. It was practically the only reason she tolerated him.

"David, it is alright. She is speaking the truth." She heard the voice of Snow behind her, Granny was probably still with the child in the living room, seeing as Snow was not holding the boy anymore.

"See?" Regina smiled a triumphant smile to him before setting a few steps back. "So, " She continued. " if you would like to send this bunch of idiots away now, I am happy to let you enter my home."

The mob that had been quiet up until then came back alive at her words.

" Don't do it Charming! It is a trap, she probably blackmailed Snow into saying that!"

But the prince shook his head. "Friends!" _Ugh_, that sickening title alone made Regina want to vomit. "I appreciate your concern, but I got this. Now, I want to ask you all to gather in the city hall. Miss French here, " Regina only now noticed Rumpelstiltskin's lover was among the crowd. "Will be in charge. I ask you to behave like the citizens we are. We will discuss what has happened, and once we have figured out what to do next we will come to city hall to hold a council meeting."

The crowd murmured but eventually decided to follow up the prince's requests as they started to turn around and leave. David turned around to face Regina, probably expecting a thank you, that she of course was not going to give him. Instead she huffed before turning around and leaving inside her house, it was a silent invite for him to follow.

**Enchanted Forest**

She was plagued by nightmares and memories that night. She tossed and turned, woke up and drifted back to sleep again, and it was every time the same. She would find herself in _that _room and would relive all the horrors that had happened there in her years as Leopold's wife.

So far the dreams and memories, feelings and fear had disappeared again as soon as she woke up, but now that she woke up for the sixth time that night that wasn't the case. She still felt a heavy body pressing her down, she still felt how her arms were pinned above her head and when the last traces of her nightmare vanished from her sight she still _saw_ a figure hovering above her.

This wasn't a dream_. This was real. _And with that thought she gulped as fear entered her body.

"Why hello, madam mayor. How nice of you to join the land of the conscious again." A male's voice spoke to her, his voice was low and sounded malicious. "You know, I have waited for this moment to come quite long, ever since the curse broke really. But up until now you were always accompanied by Snow White and her family. Never alone. You might have fooled _them _into thinking that you changed, but I am not that easy to deceive.

I observed you, I kept an eye on you, I have followed you around since we got here and I knew this was my chance. You are broken, you lost the boy you call your son, you are isolating yourself from the rest of them and _something _in this palace is making you nervous. If I wasn't sure of that already the few words you murmured in your sleep convinced me."

" Wh - What do you want." She croaked out, her voice was still heavy with sleep and the pieces of her nightmare that were mixing with this reality made her helpless and paralyzed with fear.

"I want you to _pay_ for what you did. You see, my wife and children _left _me. Back in this land they would have never done that, but in that land you send us too, in _that _land I suddenly was the bad guy who drank too much, the guy who beat his wife, and suddenly that was reason for me to be condemned by the town, an _alcoholic _they called me. It ruined my reputation, I was a sheriff in this land, I was respected and now...now I lost _everything. _All because you cursed us to that land. And so. You. will. pay." He had moved his head close to her as he spit out those last words, his ill smelling breath making her scrunch up her nose in disgust.

She tried to gather the little dignity and courage she had left in that moment and attempted to send him an unimpressed glare. "And you are going to do what? Kill me? I would like to see you try..." It wasn't as convincing as she wanted it to be, but it was something at least.

The man nodded. "Eventually, yes...but first..." And the moment she saw his eyes rake over her body she knew what he would do first. "You are quite an attractive woman you know...shame to let all that go to waste before I have had the chance to enjoy it.." Was all he said with a smirk.

She felt her heartbeat pick up. She did not want this. Not again. Not anymore. She tried to pull her arms free but his grip on her was much too strong. The idea to use magic didn't even cross her mind as fear was occupying every inch of her mind there was. And so she screamed. She called for help and she did it again, even after he had slapped her in the face with his free hand.

He then moved up to straddle her, bringing one hand to cover her mouth so she wouldn't cry out again and he lifted his other hand from her arms, knowing she was much too weak to push him away anyways and that she wouldn't use magic or she would have done it already.

She trashed violently when she felt how his fingers started to pull at the strings that held her night gown together at her chest, his mouth descending to kiss her neck. She bit in his finger which caused him to retract his hand with a pained hiss. She was able to cry out once more before he slapped her in her face again.

"You bitch!" He yelled at her. "Stay quiet! No one is going to come for you! You are helpless. No one wants to help the Evil Queen!"

She couldn't breathe, her cheek stung from where he had hit her twice now, but she kept on trashing and moving. And then suddenly the weight on her was lifted as the attacker seemed to fly through the air as if he was nothing. Immediately sitting up she saw there was now another figure in her room struggling with her attacker.

She couldn't find the strength nor any magic to maybe help her rescuer, instead she readjusted her nightgown again and curled in on herself, closing herself off for what was happening around her. But her eyes stayed open, unseeing, but open, for whenever she would close them she would relive past events mingled with what had just happened.

Only when the person who had saved her lit up a candle, did she turn to see who had helped her. "Robin.." She breathed in surprise, her voice hoarse from screaming and crying.

His face was worried as he walked over to her and put the candle on the nightstand next to her. "Are you alright?" He asked, his hand immediately moving to touch the bruised skin on her cheek, she involuntarily winced at the contact.

"I'm sorry." He said, his voice serious and she thought to hear a hint of anger in there to."I just need to see how bad it is."

"Just bruised." She spoke, they were silent for a while as they just stared at each other before she spoke again. " What did you do with him?"

"I knocked him out so hard that he will be out for a couple of hours, prince David was still up so I handed him over to him, he will know how to deal with the bastard. But the important thing is, he cannot hurt you anymore." His voice had grown low and dark as soon as he had mentioned her attacker, he was obviously furious over what had happened.

She sighed. He had known that had been what she had actually been asking. "I was on my way to go to sleep when I heard you scream for help." He continued to explain so she did not have to ask.

"Are you alright?" He asked once more, and she realised she still hadn't answered to that question. She went to sit upright with a nod. " Yes, yes you - you were there just in time." She managed to send him a sad smile, it was all that she was capable of doing in that moment. He knew it was her way of saying thank you.

They just sat there for a couple of minutes, Regina in the bed studying her hands, and Robin now leaning against the wall nearby. "Well...I guess I should leave you alone now then...let you sleep, and heal..." He eventually spoke.

She did not what possessed her to say it, it was probably the shock talking but before the thief had time to move she shook her head and grasped his hand with hers. " No, stay!" She exclaimed, then, noticing what she was doing, quickly retreating her hand and averting her eyes again. " I mean...I – You can go, you need to go to your son of course..."

He eyed her as she was fervently staring at her hands in her lap again, trying to make sense of what she had just said. As he watched her he noticed how beautiful she truly was. As the Queen she was quite an appearance, that was something that could not be denied, but this wasn't the Queen, this was Regina. And Robin though she was even more beautiful than the Queen was. Her long hair was falling loosely down her back, a few strands gracing her face, her face was void of make-up, emphasizing the natural beauty that was underneath. She wasn't all that tall either, he now noticed, as a matter of fact she seemed rather small right now in the big bed. He also noticed how she was fidgeting, and how she was unconsciously biting on her lower lip. There was still a slight tremble in her movement as well, and as he looked longer at her he could only conclude that she was _terrified_. She had nothing to hide behind, no intimidating costumes, no complicated hairdos or dark make-up. She really was just Regina right now and she was scared and did not want to be alone right now.

He was tired and he wanted to see his son. On top of that Queen and himself hadn't had the best time of their lives in each other's companionship lately, but one more look at the brunette woman and he tossed all those objections aside.

" No, it's alright." He said. " I can send Little John to check up on Roland and stay here a bit longer myself. We can just...talk..."

She looked up at him. " Oh, you really don't -"

"No it really is fine with me, your majesty. Not every thief gets the chance to hang out with the Queen at midnight, now do they?" He winked. Her words had tried to tell him no, but it was only a formality, because her eyes had screamed at him that she was grateful and craving for someone, _anyone _to stay with her and help her through that dark night she had found herself in.

So he would stay. And they would talk. Maybe he would even learn a little bit more about the enigma that was this Evil Queen. Or no...if he was being honest to himself...Evil was a bit of an overstatement...she wasn't evil...she was just...lost.

**Am I on a roll or what? My classes start again on Tuesday, so I thought I might as well update as much as possible now. And your reviews, follows, favs do help a lot with that!**

**Please leave a review again and tell me what you think .**

**x**

**Metope**


	7. Seven

**Seven**

Enchanted Forest  
  
"So.." Robin said as he went to sit down on the sofa that stood nearby. "Any idea who the person was that attacked you?" He wanted to hit himself right after he had asked the question. She had wanted someone to stay with her so she wouldn't have to think about what had just transpired, and now here he was bringing it up again in the first thing he said. Luckily she didn't seem to mind that much. Apart from an involuntary shiver she seemed to be "fine".

"He said he had been a sheriff in this land. I do not know him. My curse apparently did not bring him the change in his life he had envisioned for himself." She tried to sound lighthearted about it, as if it was nothing, but he knew it was a way to pretend it was nothing. Because in the short time he had known the Queen now, he had already noticed that that was the way in which she coped with things, by bottling things up and by pretending they did not affected her.

"A sheriff, hm." He growled. "I shouldn't be surprised, I have yet to meet a sheriff who is a well-behaved noble man."

"Or woman."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Or woman, a sheriff doesn't necessarily have to be a man. At least, in the land I send us to it doesn't have to be. Men and women are much more equal there.." Her voice wasn't defensive, it was just a light remark, the very first directed to his words since he knew her.

"And you know a female sheriff from there, I take it?" He asked, and he didn't know what it had been in his words, but he saw how her face crumpled considerably and a sad grimace painted her face at his words.

"Yes...I did...she was..she is the mother of my son, the biological mother."

Ah, that was why, Robin thought to himself. "The daughter of the princess Snow and Prince Charming?"

She nodded. "She was infuriating though, we constantly fought, so maybe you are right about sheriffs after all." She said with a sad smile, he responded with a smile of his own.

"Tell me, about your son I mean. I have seen you with Roland, you act so natural around him, you must have been a great mother."

It didn't seem like he could do anything to cheer her up that evening. Her response at his questions was a strangled sob. "I- I rather not talk about my son. It is too...painful."

He nodded. "I understand. I am sorry. What do you want to talk about?" Maybe it was best that she came up with a subject to speak about.

" I - " A yawn interrupted her speaking and the grimace she pulled as the bruised skin of her cheek was forced to stretch didn't go unnoticed. "Maybe you could tell about what your life has been like recently. Before we arrived here to mess things up."

He chuckled. "Well, as you never fail to remind me of, I am considered to be a thief. However, I personally do not see it that way."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Of course you don't.

"We only stole from the rich to give to the poor. People like that sheriff, we would steal from him. It wasn't even stealing really, rather taking back what he took from the poor families in the villages."

Regina nodded slowly. "Were there many poor villagers?" She then asked. "I know that when I was...when the King still lived there were many. He was too soft, he didn't conclude the right commerce deals with the neighboring kingdoms. I tried to change it, but I was not supposed to occupy myself with these things." Her mouth formed a thin line of disapproval as she spoke. "When I reigned alone I did try to make sure my kingdom became wealthier, however I was too...self-absorbed to check if my reign had the desired effect."

He smiled at her. "Many villagers were poor, yes. There is no doubt about that, but under your reign things did improve. So I would say you did well to some extent, don't you worry."

"I did not ask that to receive a compliment." She replied. "I was genuinely interested. I always was...I just...didn't find enough time in a day to both plot my schemes and..." she made a futile gesture in the air with her arm.." You know.."

He nodded. " I know, I didn't think you were fishing for compliments, I just decided to give you one."

"I didn't need one." She huffed, a remark that he let slip. He looked around him, the room was still pitch dark, he could see just enough to see her face, but that was about it.

She saw him look around and realised he was trying to take in his surroundings. "Do you want me to create some light?"She asked and without waiting for a reply she magically lit a few candles.

She smirked when a small gasp left his lips at the suddenly glowing candles next to him "I will never get used to magic." He said by means of explanation. "I am not that fond of magic in general."

She nodded. "That is a healthy caution then. Magic...it can be handy, but throughout the years I have learned how it often destroys more than it heals."

"It seems a powerful weapon to me, yet very destructive indeed as well."

She nodded. "It has saved me from quite some unpleasant situations in the past yes, that is most certainly true."

Those words made him think. "Why didn't you use magic to fight off your attacker just now?" He voiced his thoughts.

The transformation in her being was remarkable. The almost relaxed look that had crossed her features disappeared, the hints of softness in her eyes were replaced by a cold and hard stare, her jaw set and her body went rigid. "I - I couldn't concentrate well enough to do so."

They both knew it was a lie. A lie that Robin annoyed greatly. Every time he seemed to get somewhere with this woman, every time he had just convinced himself that it was actually possible to have a normal honest conversation with this woman she would do this. She would lie. Typically something royals did. He was just about to say something of it when he noticed how she yawned again.

"Maybe we should go to sleep." He said instead. "I will stay here and sleep on the sofa." He didn't wait for her to reply or to object, and went to lie on the sofa instead, his back towards her.

He heard her sigh and then the movement of the sheets as she was probably lying down again. The candles she let on, probably because the darkness was still too confronting at that moment.

The following morning he woke up by the sound of heels clacking on the stone floor. As he opened his eyes he saw how Regina was up already, dressed in a black body hugging velvet dress. Her hair was half up and half down. She hadn't applied her make up yet, as she was still working on her long black hair.

It gave him the opportunity to observe her, and he was taken aback by the bruise on her cheek. Now in the light of day he could see how severe the injury really was, it must hurt greatly.

"Didn't you mother teach you it is rude to stare at people?" her low voice called. They were obviously back to their formal way of speaking if it was up to her.

"Good morning to you too. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, why wouldn't I be." Her answer annoyed him, was she really going to pretend like nothing had happened the previous night?

"Well, that bruise on your cheek suggests otherwise."

She turned around at his words. "Yes, about that. I can hide it with a certain magical paste, but I need a few ingredients from the kitchen for that. Do be a dear and go get those for me on your way to the kitchen for breakfast, will you?"

Her tone of voice did not sit well with him at all, it triggered him in being defiant. " Why don't you go retrieve it yourself? That way you are sure you have the right ingredients as well."

She laughed a mocking laugh. " And risk the fact that people see me like this? Oh no dear, not a chance."

He shook his head. " Damned royals." He murmured under his breath, but she had picked up on it.

"What was that dear?" Her eyes seemed to pierce right through him, she was daring him to repeat it. Well, he was not afraid of her, and so he did. "I dislike your attitude towards me."

She chuckled. "Oh, and how should that concern me? I am sorry, but that is your own problem."

He shook his head. "Exactly this is what I mean. What is this? Come on _your_ _majesty_, you were completely different last night, are you really going to pretend none of it happened?"

Her eyes darkened. "Well factually it did happen, denying that would be lying, but -"

"Oh and you always stick to the truth, do you now?" He interrupted her, his voice sarcastic.

"Excuse me?" She set a few steps into his direction, daring him to continue.

"You heard me." He bit back "You lie and you deceive. You bend the truth and people so that it all suits your ways. Typically what all these royals do." He spat, his voice hard and his eyes cold as he got up from the sofa.

" You are walking on very thin ice, thief." She warned him in a low voice. "I would think very carefully about what your next words will be."

He turned around to face her. "This, exactly this! You know I am so sick of this attitude of yours. As soon as you do not like how things are going you either lie or you threaten people. Roland asks for a story but you do not like the subject so you change it. He asks what is behind a door and you lie to him again. I saved your life tonight and -"

She laughed. "Humble aren't we?" But he did not let himself be caught by her attempt to distract him.

"I saved you from that attacker, but apart from tonight all you have been doing since we met is insulting me, holding yourself so damned regal, as if you are better than anyone else!"

That set her off. "Excuse me, _I _have been insulting _you_? And what do you call all those things you have thrown _my_ way in the past hours? Beg to tell me what those were if not insults? I do not have to take this from you. I suggest you leave now!"

He shook his head. "I leave when I decide to leave. You royals must not think you can order everyone around as if we are mere animals! You lie and you deceive, one moment I think we have a genuine conversation and then the next you behave in this infuriating way again, making me wonder how much of the previous conversation was genuine!" His eyes were spitting fire at her, and in a way she was admiring the nerve he had to do this. It was what made her decide not to use magic on him.

However her next words made her change her mind on that decision. "I should have stolen your treasures and kidnapped you when the chance was offered to me all those years ago." He murmured more to himself than to her, but she had heard it. In three large strides she walked up to him and pinned the thief against the wall with her magic in one move.

"_What_. Did you just say?" She spat.

"I said I should have kidnapped you when I had the chance. Many years ago, when you had just become Queen someone asked me if I could steal from him. I should have done it." Robin smirked. "Would have taught you how to live without all those riches and the attitude you care so much about it."

She lost it, she closed her hand, choking him, leaving just enough air for him not to pass out. "You have NO idea who I am! And I do not let ANYONE accuse me of such shallow things! Who do you think you ARE! What makes you think you have the RIGHT to accuse me of such things! You know NOTHING. Nothing about me and NOTHING about my life. You have no idea what it was like! I never wanted ANY of this!" She yelled at him, wildly gesturing in the air around her with her free hand. "If I had known back then that you wanted to steal from the kingdom and kidnap me I would have happily given you all the treasures in this palace and would have gladly gone with you if it would have meant I could leave this sickening life!"

The moment she saw his eyes change from angry to a soft sadness she realised what she was doing and what she had said. She had said too much, much too much. She immediately released her grip on him and let him fall to the floor. He fell on his knees and coughed heavily as air forced its way into his lungs again, one hand rubbing over his throat in an attempt to soothe the pain.

"Regina -" He croaked, and oh there it was, that awful sound of pity in his voice, but she wouldn't hear any of it.

" Get out." She growled.

"I -"

"GET. OUT. RIGHT NOW." She roared, a fireball conjuring in her left hand to prove she really was not to be messed with right now.

That apparently made him understand she was serious and she watched, fireball in her hand how he crawled up from the floor and walked out the door, slamming the door shut behind him with a loud bang.

She stayed like that, fireball in her palm for a couple more minutes, chest heaving with held back anger and fury, before she eventually threw the ball towards her curtains with a furious scream.

Her eyes watched has flames tore at the red draped curtains, their dancing somehow calming her and before the flames could latch onto something else she waved her hand to diminish them to a mere puff of smoke, before she defeated sat down on her sofa.

She sighed, his previous words rang through her head. ´O_ne moment I think we have a genuine conversation and then the next you behave in this infuriating way again, making me wonder how much of the previous conversation was genuine!´_

It _had_ been genuine. And that was precisely why she had behaved this morning as she had done. He had seen her weak, he had seen her in one of her weakest moments and she did not _know_ this man well enough yet to know if she could trust him with that knowledge. And so she had needed to reinvest her image as the fearless ruthless Queen.

And she had almost managed to do so, and then he had pushed her over the line. She did not know how he was able to do it, but he managed to get so under her skin, it was maddening. And she had told him too much, too many personal things. And so she had known her little show had failed the moment she had see how his eyes had changed from fear installed to pitying her.

She let out another deep sigh before she got up. Well, she would just have to go to the kitchen herself now...and threaten them not to speak a singel word about the condition of her face...

**Update B|! I'm sorry dears, but this Robin and Regina relationship is not going to happen over night and without a few fights. We are talking about a thief and an evil queen here…this isn't snow white and prince charming :P**

**Do let me know what you think^^**

**x**

**Metope**


	8. Eight

**Eight**

**Storybrooke**

The child had started to cry again, nothing Granny did seemed to soothe the infant. Only when she handed him over back to Snow did he calm down. He seemed to know her, _and_ he seemed to know David, for as soon as the child set eyes on the prince a squeal of delight escaped him and he started to move wildly in Snow's arms, his arms reaching out in David's direction.

The latter's eyes went wide upon seeing the child in his wife's arms, he quickly walked over to Snow, touching her cheek with his hand in a loving gesture. "Snow, are you alright? Is everything alright? Who is this?"

Snow smiled her best comforting smile at her husband – yet convincing it was not. "I am just fine. _Everything_ is far _from_ fine, and this..I don't know who _this_ is, but considering that time has passed that we do not know of and looking at his features I would say..."

"If that is not a Charming child, I don't know what is." Granny finished Snow's hesitant reply. "That's a male child version of Emma."

David shook his head in confusion, none of this made sense. "But – " He started. "If we would have had another child...shouldn't we have...known?"

"Well, as your wife just _told_ you, we are relatively sure time has passed, but unless you have to tell us something, none of us _remembers_ anything." Regina snapped at the obvious question.

Snow sighed. "I - I don't know David. Please can you take him from me for a while?" The child, so eager to get to David was practically launching himself in David's arms already. David nodded and took the baby from Snow – which he did with surprising skill.

The child contently hummed as soon as he got what he wanted, and made it able for the adults to sit down now and continue their conversation.

"So...what's next?" Granny asked.

"Well, naturally everyone thinks _I_ did this. But I can assure you I did _not_." Regina huffed and Snow nodded and continued: "I think what we must do is first calm down the townspeople, and maybe then try to find out where Emma and Henry are and who cursed us."

"Oh, well that sure sounds like a piece of cake." Granny said sarcastically, which caused her to receive a dead glare from Regina.

"For once in my life, I agree with Snow, if you have a better plan, please do tell."

"Well – " Granny started, but she was interrupted by another round of banging on Regina's front door. The latter sighed heavily before she got up and marched to the door. "I told you, I didn't do it!" She snapped while she swung the door open, after which all she could experience was utter shock at the sight of whom was at the door.

"Emma..." She breathed.

**Enchanted Forest**

The ingredients weren't there. How much more bad luck did she deserve? What had she ever done that justified this? Well, she _knew_ what she had done in the past that would result in quite some bad karma, but still, she didn't think it fair that life came back to bite her even in the small things of life.

And so it happened that she had first had to show her bruised face in the kitchen, and then, since the trip had been futile and she really do was hungry, had to go with that same face to the dining hall.

Trying to cover it up with make-up had seemed to only make it worse, and of course she hadn't been able to install enough fear in the kitchen staff with that bruise so visible to make them shut up. Which led to the fact that she now entered the dining hall and experienced the hall go quiet save for the whispering voices of those who had already heard of her condition from the kitchen staff.

"Good morning." She slowly spoke as she regally walked over to buffet, grabbed a plate and put some fruit on it. Pretending nothing was going on helped her to the extent that the larger part of the dining hall continued with what they had been doing before she had entered –all the while fervently whispering –, although she knew that the few stares she was still receiving wouldn't go away until she would reach the table in the front of the hall at which Snow and the others sat.

Thus she quickened her pace, determined to quickly arrive at said place, and it all went fine until suddenly someone stepped in front of her, blocking her way. At the sight of who it was her breath hitched and she froze in fear, the plate she had been holding falling out of her hands, loudly crashing on the floor, which once again made everyone present turn their gaze towards her.

She knew that face, and if she hadn't been sure the sound of his voice as he spoke to her made her sure. "Oh, you dropped your plate, your majesty." The man said, smiling sickeningly sweet at her before picking up a few of the blue grapes that had fallen to the floor. He held them up next to her bruised cheek: Ever the stylish queen I see, colors nicely with your cheek like that." He smirked.

Robin, who had been sitting next to Snow and David watched the scene from a far, and as soon as he recognized who was standing in front of Regina he turned to face David and Snow. That was Regina's attacker, and he was not _just_ that, that was the sheriff of Nothingham! He couldn't understand how he had not noticed it yesterday night, but then again, the sheriff had been taken by the curse, he hadn't seen him in years. "Why is he still walking around freely!" He urgently asked David. "I thought I told you yesterday to lock him up!"

David shrugged. "You were quite vague about what he had done exactly. So we asked him what had happened and he said that there had been a misunderstanding, so we let him off with a warning."

"He _attacked_ her!" Robin growled. "That bruise on her cheek is _his_ doing!" Snow gasped at that. "We didn't know –" She started but Robin didn't let her finish, instead he abruptly got up, his chair falling in the process and he marched towards Regina and the sheriff.

Regina was still standing there, completely paralyzed with fear while the sheriff inched closer. "Not so tough anymore are we now?" He asked loudly, causing some of the observers to laugh along with him.

"Leave me alone." She eventually managed to choke out, but it wasn't intimidating in the slightest, it only made him laugh. "Underneath that tough appearance really hides a cowardice terrified helpless _bitch_." And the crowd laughed along with him. "I finally put the queen back in her place, her cheek testifies of that! And oh how she begged and screamed for help last night!"

Robin quickened his pace, the sheriff was slowly succeeding in creating an uproar in the hall, many people still thought Regina was to blame for their return to this land, or so he was told by Snow. One of the bystanders however shook her head. "You are disgusting!" She spat. "I know who you are, you hit your wife and children! No one deserves the way you treat people, not even _she_!"

"Oh shut up you wench!" The man snarled to the woman who had said those words.

"Make me!" The woman dared him, and just as he saw how the sheriff was about to indeed demonstrate how he would make that woman shut up, Robin reached them, pulled his fist back and then hit the man square in the face with so much force that the bastard stumbled a few steps backwards before he slumped down on the floor, knock out.

"Now, anyone else who wants to follow this man's example, or are you all going to resume your breakfast again?" Robin spoke to the crowd, who quickly shook their heads and returned to their seats.

When he was sure everything was safe again, and a few men had come to take the sheriff away, _for good_ this time, he turned to face Regina, who still stood there. She seemed to snap out of whatever fear induced dace she had been in as soon as he met her eyes.

For a moment he saw gratitude in them, but they grew cold and just a tad sad as soon as she seemed to recall their previous argument of that morning. "Thank you." She said in a cool voice, before turning around and walking back to the buffet: she needed a new plate.

Insulted by the meagre gesture of gratitude Robin marched back to Snow and David and went to sit down with a huff. "Is everything alright?" Snow asked carefully, noticing the man's angry scowl.

"That woman – " He gestured at where Regina was standing. "Is incorrigible. One moment you think the two of you are actually getting along, the next she is the most cold-hearted bitch you can imagine. I saved her _twice_ within 24 hours and all I get is a cool 'thank you'."

Snow smiled sadly at Robin's words. "She really does not mean it that bad." She tried, but Robin interrupted her.

"Oh, she did mean this all right." He sighed. "We had a fight. I confronted her and went too far, she felt threatened and well ..."

Snow nodded, she knew all too well how Regina was when she felt threatened. "Well, she'll come around."

Robin shook his head. "I don't care about that anymore. Gods know what Roland sees in her, because he does seem to like her, but I give up. That woman is just horrible."

"Well, _someone_ has to play that role in life, don't they?" Regina remarked dryly as she sat down next to Robin out of necessity, seeing as there were no other free places left.

"Regina. I did not see you coming." Robin growled and Regina huffed. "As if you would not have said those words if you knew."

"That's right, I would still have said them, unlike some people I prefer to speak the _truth_."

"Ah yes, how could I forget you, told me that just this morning...Are you sure you want to sit next to me? My 'deceiving and lying nature' might be infectious, much like your Forest smell." She really was never going to let that go.

And Snow observed the conversation between the two with a worried look, these two _really_ could not stand each other. They would better find a new safe place to stay, one that was bigger than this palace, because this could not end well...could it?

**Whooptiedoop and there is update number 8. Uni starts again for me tomorrow, so I will probably go back to updating once or twice a week, like I normally do from then on!**

**Do leave me a review, because from now on they are going to be a major influence again on how motivated I am to update (the more uni work there is the more important those reviews are ;-) ).**

**x**

**Metope**


	9. Nine

**Nine**

Storybrooke

Regina did not like to swear. Not out loud, and preferably not that often in her thoughts either. But this situation just asked for it, because this just sucked big time.

Miss Swan was back. Henry was back. Miss Swan remembered. And Henry...Henry did not. There had been only one potion, no one knew who had made it, not even Hook and her attempt to duplicate it had failed miserably.

So she had done what she does best: She had closed herself off, she was preventing herself from getting hurt, and that meant she had refused to see Henry. It had been two days since Emma was here, Snow and Charming had been introduced as friends to him, but she wouldn't do it.

Besides, there were more important matters - well not really, Henry was the most important matter in her life, but she was trying to fool herself right now into thinking otherwise - that needed to be dealt with. They needed to find out who did this, they needed to find a way to get their memories back, and she had to do most of it by working together with Miss Swan and the pirate, since both Snow and Charming were mostly preoccupied with their new child. Whale had ran some DNA-tests, and the results had indeed proved this was their child, although Snow had said she hadn't really needed the tests to show her that, she had felt it. As sickeningly perfect as that sounded, Regina could relate to it this time, she might not have any biological children of her own, but the bond between a mother and child, _that_ she knew of, and that was indeed something you _felt_, something that was just _there_ and something you would always recognize.

In the meantime Emma had reported that a man had been brought in who had turned into a monkey right on the table, and the green smoke she and Emma had noticed when they had tried to catch the caster of the curse in her office, had left little doubt: This was the work of the Wicked Witch of the West.

That knowledge however did not do very much, seeing as they had no idea whatsoever who this witch was. And simply finding her by ruling out the newcomers in town wasn't an option either, the population of Storybrooke had almost been doubled, this time truly everyone had been taken.

Which was more of a curse on its own than it was a blessing: More royal families thinking they could continue the hegemonic life they had lived in the other land, more peasants who were scared of every little bit of technology this world had to offer, and then there was this gang of thieves and bandits, with this Robin of Locksley as its leader that annoyed her greatly. Not because they were causing problems or anything...honestly it wasn't even that whole gang that annoyed her, more that Robin figure. He was here for what? Two seconds? And had somehow already earned the trust of both Emma and David, which caused him to now happily walk around with that crossbow of his, pretending to be the hero who would find the witch, whereas he really was a thief, nothing more.

She went over all of this in her mind as she was walking to Granny's. Up until now she had barely left her house, but this morning she had come to the conclusion that there really was nothing edible left in her kitchen that could serve as breakfast, and so she was headed out to have one of Granny's famous breakfasts instead.

When she entered the diner she went straight for the counter, ignoring the whispering voices of the townspeople who still suspected her to be behind all this, especially after they had faked she was indeed, during the town meeting in city hall. She had almost reached the counter when she felt something small crash into her legs followed by the feeling of her tights and shoes getting soaked by something cold and sticky.

She let out an annoyed growl and set a step back, looking down to see what had caused this more than unpleasant happening she stared down in shocked wide brown eyes that belonged to an adorable five year old brunette boy. "I am sorry, lady!" The boy immediately exclaimed and his lower lip was trembling dangerously upon seeing her own pair of dark annoyed brown eyes staring at him.

However, at the sight of the boy, shock written on his face and in one of his hands a now half empty cup with lemonade, she realized what had happened and the scowl quickly disappeared and made place for an apologetic smile. "It is okay, dear. You didn't do it on purpose, did you?"

The boy quickly shook his head. "Was an acc'dent." He mumbled and Regina nodded. The boy however was still looking at her with quite some fear in his eyes. So, in order to calm him a bit, and because she was practically swimming in her heels now, she decided to take off her pumps and crouched down to his level - all the while painfully aware of the eyes on her of all the people present.

"Accidents happen sometimes. Don't worry." She smiled. "You apologized, so it is okay. The only thing we do have to worry about is that you now barely have anything left to drink. Were you here with your mommy or daddy?"

"With daddy." He mumbled, still staring at her with his eyes, but she saw the fear slowly disappearing from his face and so she continued. "My name is Regina. How about I get you a new cup? My feet tell me you were having strawberry flavored lemonade."

He caught the little joke she made there and it made a smile appear on his face. "I'm Roland." She couldn't help but smile brightly back at him, this little boy was a bomb of cuteness right there, especially now with the dimples that appeared as he smiled.

"Alright, let's do that then." She said. "Maybe it is a good idea to sit down next time when you go drink something." She gestured at the bar stools at the counter in the process.

The boy, understanding what she meant nodded and - obviously knowing the drill - held his arms out so she could lift him up to the stool.

"There," she smiled at him as she put him down on the bar stool, one hand protectively on his back so he wouldn't fall off backwards. She then directed her gaze at Granny, and only noticed now how the woman was giving her an amusing look.

"What?" She bit out.

The woman snorted. "Nothing, just that you are a hell lot shorter without those heels, quite refreshing."

Since Granny had woken up in Regina's house the two women had come to a bit of an understanding. They didn't know why but somehow there seemed to be a connection between them, they were more comfortable, less hostile, around each other. There had always been a certain mutual respect between the two, both women liked a tough approach, but somehow - maybe it was because of the curse and the year they did not remember- that connection had become slightly more amicable.

Regina huffed. "Well, if you have had the time to observe me that well I am sure you also understood what it is you need to do. I would like a black coffee and a bagel and Roland here another lemonade." The older woman just shook her head as she turned around to prepare said order.

It was then that the door of the diner opened again, and when Regina turned to look who it was, she saw that annoying thief standing there. His gaze was turned in her direction, but his eyes looked right past her to the boy on the stool next to her instead.

"Roland! There you are!"

"Papa!" The boy exclaimed happily, and Regina groaned inwardly. How could such a cute boy have that as a father?

"Where were you my boy? You were right behind me and then suddenly you were gone."

"I spilled my lemonade on miss Regina and then she got me a new cup." Roland explained as his father walked up to him, pointing at the new cup of lemonade that Granny had just put in front of him.

Robin on his part looked from the cup to Regina then down to the heels on the floor and her feet where her tights now had a considerably darker color. _She has tiny feet_, he thought for a second before getting confused over why on earth that was the first thing he noticed, and he shook his head, lifting his head back up and meeting the woman's eyes with his.

He stared in dark brown eyes under perfectly shaped eyebrows, of which one was now lifted as a way of making clear she was waiting for him to say something. "I am terribly sorry, m'lady." He blurted, then held his hand out. "Robin of Locksley is the name, and this is my son Roland."

"Yes." She replied regally, staring down the offered hand until he let it fall limp against his body again. "I have heard of you, Miss Swan has recruited you in finding who cursed us, didn't she?"

Robin nodded. "I am happy to help out, yes."

"I see." Regina slowly spoke. "I do hope you truly will be of any help to us then. Seeing as it is apparently quite the challenge for you already to keep an eye on your own son."

Robin just stared at her for a moment. This was the Evil Queen, he knew that, but he still had not expected such a cold welcome from the woman. It annoyed him greatly, angered him too, damned royals. He was just about to reply when Roland interrupted him.

"Papa, I am done. But I need to go to the toilet." Robin sighed, that meant another challenge with these toilet contraptions they had here. Roland had quickly learned how to use them already. He had stayed with the brunette waitress with the red streaks in her hair for one day when he had needed to deal with what had happened to Little John and had learned more things about this world than he himself had done so far.

"Of course, Roland. We just -"

"There." He looked up to see Regina pointing to somewhere behind him, when he turned around he saw she had pointed him in the direction of the toilets.

"Thank you." He spoke, lifting Roland off the stool and putting him to the floor.

The boy immediately ran off to the toilet, his father following suit. However halfway Roland turned around. "Thank you for the lemonade, Miss Regina!" He called, Robin saw how the woman - who had been talking to the woman everyone here called Granny - looked up and sent his son a warm smile. "You're welcome, Roland." The smile disappeared as soon as her eyes landed on himself.

When they returned from the bathroom, Regina had left already.

**The Enchanted Forest**

Snow had observed the entire ordeal with a worried expression on her face. As soon as Robin had told her this man had attacked Regina, and she saw the heavily bruised cheek of said woman and the unmistakable fear in her eyes, whereas she was otherwise so strong and fierce and let nothing seem to bother her, she had wanted to jump up and help her out.

But Charming had held her back. She had told him that morning that she was expecting, and ever since he hadn't been quite himself, being overly protective. Instead he had sent a few guards to help out Robin, who by then had knocked the man out already.

It was quite a remarkable man, this Robin of Locksley. He seemed to be able to go along with practically everyone here...except for Regina. She had asked if it was because she was royalty. He had said that partly was the reason yes, after which she had pointed out that both she and David were royalty as well. But that was different, Robin had said, since both she and David had spent a part of their lives outside castle walls.

At that Snow had tried to tell him that if he thought that had been different for Regina he was mistaken. Snow remembered all too well - and often melancholically - the young Regina who preferred to ride horseback without a saddle, who tried to escape her mother's rules and discipline. But she had not gotten the chance to tell him that, for his mind had wondered off to another subject already.

However, this was going too far now. During breakfast the bickering between Regina and Robin had been incessant. She did not know what had transpired between them this morning, but Snow knew Regina well enough to know that behind the cold facade she was putting up, the queen was really just hurt, and a bit shaken from the events of that night and this morning.

She had followed the conversation with worried eyes, had tried to engage them in a conversation with her and Charming several times, but every time again it ended in the two of them insulting each other. And then Robin had gone too far, Snow didn't even exactly recall anymore what it had been what he had said, but it had been another assumption that Regina was nothing but power-hungry mindless royalty. And that had been it for Regina.

Snow saw how her hands curled around her fork and knife, knuckles turning white from the pressure as she tried to control the anger that was clearly visible in her dark eyes. She didn't throw a scene though - something Snow was immensely grateful for and also was very proud of Regina for. Instead the older woman abruptly shove her chair back, smashed her cutlery down with a loud clang and walked off.

"Can you believe this?" Robin asked her, and Snow shook her head. Robin thought she agreed, but her next words told him otherwise.

"No, Robin, as a matter of fact I cannot believe it. I cannot believe that you are being so hard on her. You don't know anything of her, really, and the things that you do know: that she has lost her son, that she has been attacked just this night...they should tell you that it would have been better to just leave her be. But instead you constantly push her buttons. So no, Robin, I cannot believe this." And with that she too got up from the table and left, determined to find Regina.

She found the latter where she would always find Regina in the years that they lived here together: in the court yard, where the curse had obediently returned her famous apple tree to.

"Regina.."

"Go away, Snow. I am in no mood to talk, let alone being lectured." The woman snapped, her back turned towards her former step-daughter as she was eying the tree in front of her.

"I did not come to lecture you. I just wanted to know if you were alright. What Robin did - what he said to you, that is not okay..."

She waited if Regina felt the need to reply, to send her away again, but when the woman did no such thing, Snow interpreted that as a sign that the woman was listening, and she continued. "You must know...he has a very strong aversion against royalty, it has something to do with his past, I am not sure and -"

At that Regina whirled around, Snow saw that she had been crying. "And? And what? That gives him the right to speak to me in the way he does? Well I am sorry, but I am not going to put up with that. Everything is bad enough as it is, everything is challenging me, and I am trying so hard to remain true to who I am supposed to be, who Henry wanted me to be, and I do not need a thief adding extra obstacles to that goal."

Snow noticed how she spoke about Henry in the past tense, and it hurt her. Regina was far more broken than she had ever been, she had lost all hope or so it seemed. "I - I know it is challenging, I know you miss Henry -"

"That is not just it, that is only half of the problem, Snow!" Regina exclaimed, her voice wavered, and her eyes were so sad. "This!" She wildly gestured in the air around her. "This whole place is maddening! It is challenging me, teasing me, _mocking_ me. It reminds me of a time in my life I do not want to be reminded of! Everything that happened in this castle, every moment I spent here is a bad memory! And now I am constantly being reminded of all of it. I do not want to be _her_ anymore, but this place is making it damn hard for me not to be. And the people...all those peasants, all those _idiots_, they won't leave me alone! I just want to be _alone_, but they constantly come bothering me, driving me crazy, causing me to long for times when they were still scared of me. And those who avoid me, _still_ see me as the Evil Queen and are indeed scared of me, and that tells me again that that is not what I want either...and then this thief! This THIEF, walks in, thinking he knows me, thinking I am the typical damsel in distress that will be forever grateful that he rescued me. All because I was weak for one moment, all because I let my guard down for one moment, and got punished by some lunatic with a grudge that he has held against me almost longer than I held my grudge against you. And I am just so SICK of it all Snow!

"So please save me your understanding looks and smiles and words, because you have NO idea what is going on in my head. I just want to be alone, I want to kill that green toad, get everyone out of my castle and be ALONE!" Her chest was heaving, labored breaths escaping her after her sudden outburst. She hadn't planned on doing it, she hadn't planned on saying anything to Snow at all, but it just happened. And frankly, she felt a weird kind of relief that she had been able to let it all out.

Snow on her turn just stood there, she had listened to the entirety of Regina's outburst with a stern face, and hands firmly planted on her hips. "Well," She said when Regina seemed to be done. " then I suggest you stop wasting energy on fighting with Robin and start looking for a solution. I agree, that wicked witch needs to be taken down and we will need your help for that, Regina. I haven't told you yet but I am -"

"Pregnant." Regina finished, and continued when Snow sent her a surprised look. "I knew in Storybrooke already, dear. It is another child born from true love, it screams magic, I picked up on it."

"Ah - I see." Snow mumbled, she let that bit of information sink in for a second before returned to talk to Regina with a stern face. " Well, then you'll understand that we will need your help. We will defeat that witch, and then..then we can start working on a way back to Emma and Henry."

Regina smiled a sad smile. She appreciated that Snow didn't pity her, she appreciated the way in which Snow did not try to soothe her pain. But the younger woman still clearly was her optimistic self, there was no way they would ever get back to Miss Swan and Henry. Thus she just sighed. " First things first dear."

**There, I thought some Regina Snow talk was long overdue. In the next chapter I am planning on looking a bit closer at why Regina truly dislikes Robin so much and at what is moving Robin to behave the way he does, and maybe what he will do after Snow reprimanded him ;-). On top of that I think it is time we go take a look at what our wicked witch is up to, don't you think?**

Also, your reviews on last chapter were amazing! It seriously caused me to update now and not in this weekend! I was even planning on updating yesterday, but then I went to visit a friend who has a new apartment and the weather was nice and she had a roof terrace which you have to access through the window, just like in F.R.I.E.N.D.S so that got my full attention instead :P.

So seeing as this is the ultimate proof of what effect reviews have on my writing behaviour, I think you know what y'all gotta do for the next chapter to be there either on Friday or Saturday hm 8-P?

x Metope

ps. for those of you who also read my HookedQueen fanfiction a Bubble bursting with love: I haven't forgotten about, I have just a major writing block with that story atm :\.


	10. Ten

**A/N: Sorry followers for getting a notification about this update twice. I had to update the chapter because there was a mistake, and then Fanfiction net didn't let me replace the chapter so I had to delete it and post it again -_-. To make it up to you I'll update again tomorrow, I promise :)!**

**Ten**

**Enchanted Forest - Past (Where we left off in the last chapter when Regina stormed out)**

Robin sighed as he sat down on the edge of the bed in the room he shared with Roland. Snow's words were ringing in his head over and over again. If he was completely honest he knew she had a point. But...it was just – she was so infuriating!

Then he had asked himself why? Why did he think Regina was infuriating? And he had come to the conclusion that he did not really have an answer to that. No other answer then that he just really wanted her to like him, and she obviously didn't, and he had automatically assumed that was because she thought she was better than him – that was how she made it look at least – but after Snow's words he started to doubt that.

The brunette had been right, he barely knew anything about Regina, and from what he had seen it was easy to point out how she was not doing that well either. And as he went over his past encounters with the queen in his mind, he couldn't help but end with the night she had refused to get Roland. Her behaviour had been so strange then, she had been scared of something yet he couldn't really figure out what that could be.

It was then that he remembered the piece of paper he had picked up that night, he hadn't thought of it anymore up until now, but – going with his hand into the pocket of his pants, finding the crumpled object there – the piece of paper was still there.

Carefully he started to unfold it, it had been lying in that room for ages and the parchment was old and looked ready to crumble any moment. When he had fully unfolded the paper he softly straightened it on his leg before picking it up to read what it said.

_Morning, 18 days before my 20__th__ year._

_As mother would say: I am a foolish girl. I had the chance to escape this horrid place, and I let it pass. Instead I ruined the only chance on friendship I had along with it. And thus I am here, writing this by candle light because the sun has not even fully come up yet._

_I have not slept tonight. The King sent for me again and I never can find sleep when it is over. Oh, how I wish I had been brave enough to escape. To flee this life, if it can even be named a life at all. It has almost been two years since my mother accepted this marriage for me, it has been two years since I lived._

_Most of the time I am being left alone, with no one to speak to, and no one to go to. No one but Snow White of course, because that is all that I am here for. To be a mother to a girl only seven years younger than me. The – _

He didn't continue reading the paper. Instead he took a closer look at it and saw how the left side was damaged, as if it were ripped out – out of a diary of course. Angrily he tossed the page away on a table nearby, this was obviously written by Regina, seeing as Snow had said the room he had found the piece of paper in was hers. And from the few lines he had read, how many had it been? eight? nine? It didn't really matter, what mattered was that it wasn't much, yet from those lines had spoken such deep desolation and sadness, such desperation, such fear, such _loneliness_. And from those few lines he had been able to learn so much about Regina's background story.

For one: It had been her mother who had accepted the marriage, not her. She was not happy with it, she had been married for almost two years when she wrote this, yet the date on the page indicated she wasn't even twenty years old yet at that time. She had not been twenty yet, and was already expected to be a mother to the princess Snow White. She had not even been twenty yet, and she had been married away already to a man...well, probably at least twice her age if not more. She had not even been _twenty _yet, she had still been practically a _girl_, and the King had _sent_ for her? There was only _one_ thing that that could have meant. And it made him feel sick. It made him feel sick, and angry, and guilty. Guilty, because he had so easily assumed she had chosen the life as Queen herself. But reading this, reading only those few lines told something entirely else, and now it all made sense.

Of _course_ she had changed bedrooms after the King had died, and of _course_ she hadn't wanted to go into that room again last night. And he had been so tough on her. He had sworn to himself to give Regina a new reason to live. Back when they had gone to confront the witch, he had seen the sadness in her eyes, he had sworn to make it go away. And what had he done instead? He had made it _worse_.

Robin shook his head in frustration. Well, much of a 'noble thief' he was...

**Storybrooke **

Robin looked up from the newspaper he was reading at the sound of glass shattering on the floor. He soon found the culprit to be no one less than the Queen Regina, or the mayor, as she went by in this land. Following her line of sight he also saw what had caused her to drop her cup of coffee and what was causing the look of utter pain, sadness and shock in her eyes.

There in the corner were Snow and David and their daughter, and sitting next to Emma was a teenage boy. Henry. Emma had told how things were complicated; how he had been living with Regina when he was younger and how he did not remember her now anymore. It had been her price to pay.

It was also the reason why Robin himself hadn't seen Regina anymore since their last encounter when Roland had spilled his lemonade. She avoided this place like the plague because chances were high she would run into Henry. She would only stop by for a coffee now and then, and always outside rush hours. But this time she hadn't been so lucky, and so it happened that in the end she did see the boy that was her son but she could not call her son anymore. And she obviously had not been prepared.

Seeing as the entire Charming family just stared back at her, Robin decided to interfere. It annoyed him a bit that they didn't help Regina out. Couldn't they see this was tough to handle for her?

"Oh- I – I am sorry." Regina eventually managed to stammer. "I didn't mean to startle you.."

Henry smiled at her, it was a nice gesture of him yet all the more hurtful for Regina. "That's okay."

It was then that Robin reached her, she was still staring at the corner as if she had seen a ghost.

"Come." He softly spoke. "Let's go...talk, over there." He gently nudged her arm, pulling her with him and thank god she went along. Only when they were out of sight did he let go of her arm. She immediately leaned her back against the wall.

"Are you alright?" Robin asked.

"What do you think?" She deadpanned. "I take it you know who that boy his, who he is – _was_ to me?"

Robin nodded. "I can't imagine how hard it must be."

"No, indeed you can't." He didn't take it as an insult, her eyes were so full of heartache that he knew that she hadn't meant it as an insult either. Yet as she looked back at him, she did seem to realise she had been a bit bold. "I am sorry. I – Thank you for getting me out of there, it would have gotten rather awkward if I had stood there staring at him any longer."

"That's okay." He smiled at her, and to his surprise he received a small smile from her in return before her face grew serious again. "However, this does not mean I don't think you are nothing but a thief. Because I still do."

He grinned at her, despite her attempted serious look he did see the tiny hint of playfulness in her eyes. Regina hadn't hidden that she did not approve of him helping her and the others. A thief could not be trusted, she said. Snow had said she was just wary because she did not know him. And he too thought that was the true reason. What he had learned of Regina so far was that she was a woman who liked to be in control of things, and well, missing a whole year of your life did not fit in there. It made her wary, and he could understand that.

So he didn't really take an insult to all her attempts to insult him or to push him away. Although it was damn hard at times, she could really behave as the countless of spoiled royals he had ran into throughout his life. But then he would see her interact with Roland, and that would prove to him again that she was not like them.

Besides, if she really were as bad as these royals, she would never work together with Snow and the others to defeat this witch. The royals he knew let others fight for them. They were cocky, lazy and arrogant, and well, Regina may have her moments from time to time, but lazy she was most certainly not. She seemed fierce, ready to fight and not afraid to break a nail or two, and he admired that in her.

It was partly because of that that he felt so sorry for her right now. She looked so sad. She had tried so hard to prevent herself from feeling this kind of hurt, but it was inevitable that she would eventually. He was just glad he was here with her now that it happened. Because secretly he had assigned himself a new quest. A quest just for him, a quest none of the other merry men knew of. He was determined to cheer this woman up again, to give her a reason to be happy again. She might be the Evil Queen, or she might have _been_ the Evil Queen _once_, but the woman he saw in front of him now, she was not _evil_. She was angry, and hurt, and broken, and that made her mean and bold at times, it made her lash out when she felt threatened, but it did not make her evil, did it?

**Enchanted Forest - Past**

It had been two days since she had left the palace and had retrieved to summer palace of the White Kingdom. It had been two days when she had had her first conversation ever with her sister. It had been two _days_ and nothing had happened ever since. No bold attack, no search patrols, no spies, and no Regina.

It made her doubt if this woman really was the Evil Queen at all? From the stories she had heard she should have ran into a bold, murderous, psychopathic powerful queen, yet the woman she had seen sitting on that bench seemed none of that all.

Only when she had revealed their blood bond she had seen a bit of that power flare up in her eyes, but that was all. And that made things difficult. She knew they would come for her eventually, that was sure, but it was taking too long for her liking.

At the same time, she could not really do much else than wait either. Apparently her sister had lost some things she had held dear to her already, and apparently both Rumpelstiltskin and their mother were death.

Especially the fact that the Dark One was apparently gone would delay her plans. Instead of fully focussing on destroying Regina, she had to take care of this bump in the road first.

The Dark One needed to be resurrected...she needed him..she needed his _brain, _his knowledge, to be precise in order to succeed.

And succeeding she would..oh yes, she would make sure of that...

**Why there you go, chapter 10! I know it is a bit of a filler, but please bear with me, the next chapter will be more fun :)**

**I know, I said I would put some Regina-perspective in here too, but in the end it seemed better like this. As for the Regina-Robin interaction in Storybrooke, I want to explain a little something about that: **

I see their relationship in Storybrooke to be able to be developed easier than the one in the Enchanted Forest. First because Regina is less broken in Sb, or at least, broken in a different kind of way, on top of that all the memories of the Evil Queen are weighing less heavily on her in SB, which makes her less angry, less confused and also less scared.

I see Robin's behaviour as very strongly tied to how Regina reacts. Robin considers himself to be a good guy, and he tries not to judge too soon, however he does have this prejudice against royals. The sooner and the more prominently Regina lives up to that prejudice the bolder he will get. That is what happened in the Enchanted Forest. Here in Storybrooke she has less traits of a Queen, behaves less regally, and he knows of Henry, sees how much that hurts her, and thus is more willing to forgive her behaviour. In the Enchanted Forest Regina fulfills much more the image of the Evil Queen, and along with Robin's hate for royals he let himself being blinded by that appearance.

**x (o and do leave a review of course ;-) )**

**Metope**


	11. Eleven

**Eleven**

**Enchanted forest - Past**

By the sound of little feet accompanying the larger footsteps she was hearing, she knew who they were. Leaving the book she was just about to grab on the shelf, she turned around to see that it were indeed the thief and Roland who had entered the library.

She smiled at the boy, "Good morning, Roland."

He grinned happily back at her, "Good morning Miss R'Gina."

Not acknowledging the thief's presence just yet she continued, "What brought you here today this early?"

Roland shrugged, "Daddy brought me here, he said he needed to talk to you."

At that, the smile on her face disappeared, but to her satisfaction she saw how Robin laughed nervously before crouching down, "Roland, why don't you go on a little quest here in this library? To see if there are any mice hidden behind the bookshelves?"

The boy's eyes widened, "Mice?"

Robin nodded, "Oh yes, mice love to eat paper, and well, there is enough of that here. So we need to make sure they do not eat up all the books here, you understand?"

Roland nodded seriously, "I will catch the mouses!"

Robin laughed, "I have no doubt about it. Now go."

The boy laughed before running off with a half-hearted ' bye 'Gina!' before disappearing between the many bookcases.

Regina had followed Roland with her eyes and it made a small smile appear on her face, but now that Robin got up again and caught her eyes, that smile quickly disappeared.

"So," She spoke, her voice strong and with a certain indifference in it, "What is it I did today that brought you here?"

Surely he was here to reprimand her again for one thing or another, he had not done anything else since she got here after all. And as much as she had made sure to sound indifferent just now, she was anything but. It annoyed her greatly that he did this, and then it annoyed her again that it annoyed her what he did. Since when did she care about what other people thought of her when these people were not Henry? Why did she deep down find it so important that this thief would tolerate her?

But Robin shook his head, "No, it is nothing of that. In fact...I came here to ask for forgiveness."

Well at that she couldn't help but look surprised and quirk an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, you want to ask for what now?"

"For your forgiveness." Robin spoke with a serious face, "I came to offer my apologies. I - I realise that I have been unnecessarily hard on you in the past few days, without a true reason, without truly knowing you. I made assumptions without knowing anything about you, and that was wrong of me to do. So I apologize."

She eyed him warily. He seemed genuine in his words, his face didn't reveal a hidden motive either, and that made her feel uneasy. Never did anyone genuinely apologize for anything to her.

"You spoke to Snow." It was more of a statement than it was a question, but he nodded nonetheless.

"What did she tell you?"

"Oh don't worry, she did not tell me much. Nothing about your personal life, if that is what you are worried about."

It was, and it made her shift her weight from one leg to the other and cross her arms.

"Then what did she say?" Her voice sounded neutral, she made sure it did. Until she was sure what this thief's intentions were, she would not give anything away.

"She said that I have treated you unkindly for no reason, seeing as we are not acquainted that well. That got me thinking, and I came to the conclusion that she was right."

"Just like that?" She asked, her eyebrows raised to express her disbelief.

He nodded, it wasn't entirely a lie, now was it? There simply was no way he would, or could, tell her about what he had read, she would be furious.

"Just like that. My son...Roland, he likes you, he is very keen about you, and asks me if he can spend time with you all the time. And since I value my son's judgement very much, I thought, if he can see the good in you, then surely it must be there, and then who am I to question that."

"Because you barely know me..." Regina repeated his previous words.

Robin nodded, "Exactly. Which is, " he continued before Regina could say something else, "something I would like to change. If you would give me the chance, that is."

"You want to get to know _me_?" She couldn't help but sound even more surprised at that. Apologizing was one thing, wanting to spend time with her was a whole other thing.

Robin nodded, "I realise we got off at the wrong foot. We both had a hand in that, so I guess I am offering to start over with a clean slate."

She looked at him, studied his face, saw how he even seemed a little bit nervous for what her answer would be. So he really was serious about this then, she thought.

Honestly, she didn't really know what to think of all this. She liked Roland, and she enjoyed spending time with him, from that point of view it couldn't hurt to improve her relationship with the boy's father a little. But at the same time, she thought his behaviour to be very odd. He said Snow hadn't told him anything, but it did seem as if he knew things.

Then again, if she thought a little longer about it, what could it possibly have been that Snow could have told him? About Henry maybe? She had given away most of that story to him already anyways, so maybe he really was genuine about this then.

"Well," she finally spoke. "Apologie's accepted on one condition."

"As long as that condition doesn't have to do with my alleged forest smell, I am all ears, your majesty." She merely quirked an eyebrow at that, causing Robin to grin widely.

"You can try to get to know me better, but do _not_ think you can become my _friend_, or anything of the sort." She pulled a face as she said the word friend, as if it were something disgusting, "I have no desire whatsoever for a friend, I am doing great on my own. You think you can do that?"

Robin blinked once, then twice, all the while thinking what on earth this woman has had to endure that it made her so guarded, and so closed off, but nodded eventually.

"That sounds fair. No friends. I can do that. After all, there is so much more than friends that we can be." He winked teasingly at her, and couldn't help but grin widely at the shock that shortly crossed the Queen's face before she was able to school her features again. He may have proposed to bury the hatchet, but that didn't mean he would stop teasing her, he just had too much fun in doing that.

"I must go find Roland now, check if he did not destroy the west wing of the library and all that. I will see you at lunch!" He said before turning around and walking off.

Regina on her part, was having an inner battle, as she reprimanded herself for not having said something back to that remark right away. Had he been flirting with her?

In a way he had, but only to annoy her, she was sure of that.

"Of course dear, do whatever it is you must do, I will see you at lunch. And for the record, there is nothing _alleged_ about that forest smell hanging around you, it is very much there!"

To her great frustration he just laughed at that.

"Men," she growled as she turned back to face the bookcase and angrily pulled out the book she had decided to read.

**Storybrooke - Where we left off in the last chapter**

"Shall I walk you home? Not - not like that. Just - just to be sure you are safe," he stammered when she raised her eyebrows at his question.

An amused smile graced her lips as she let him struggle before replying, "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Mr. Locksley. Thank you very much. However, I do appreciate the company today, so yes, you can."

He smiled at that. Looking around the corner of the diner he saw that the Charmings were still there. "Uhm, your son is still in the diner. Do you want to leave through the backdoor?"

He saw her hesitate, biting her lower lip unconsciously in the process – which he thought to be adorable, a thought he should not have and pushed away just as quickly as it had entered his mind – but eventually she shook her head, "No - No, I wish to speak to him first."

"Are you sure?"

She smiled a sad smile, "I will have to at some point, won't I? And if he ever remembers..."

"You don't want him to think you have been avoiding him," Robin said in understanding, and she nodded.

"Well then, after you, m'lady."

She smiled at the theatrical gesture of showing her the way that accompanied his words.

However, with every step she set closer to Henry and the Charmings, a little bit more of the genuineness of that smile disappeared, until nothing but a forced smile was what remained.

Henry and the others looked up when they got to their table.

"Regina..." Was all Emma said before her voice trailed off, it annoyed Robin, just as much as the worried faces of Snow and David annoyed him. They were so afraid Henry would pick up on something, whereas _they_ were the ones making this situation awkward and suspicious by not saying anything.

"Hello Miss Swan. I - I thought I would stop by to apologize for my previous behaviour, and to introduce myself to your son, of whom I have not had the pleasure yet to meet."

Thank heavens Emma caught on to what Regina was trying here.

"Ah, yes of course!" She smiled encouragingly to the brunette before gesturing at Henry. "Regina, this is my son Henry. Henry, this is Regina Mills, the mayor of this town."

Henry smiled up at Regina at that, and Robin saw that it took Regina every bit of self control to not fall apart.

"Nice to meet you, madam."

"I am pleased to meet you too, Henry. And please call me Regina," Regina smiled back.

"Okay, Regina," the boy laughed.

At the question of Henry liked his time in Storybrooke so far the boy shrugged in that typical way teenage boys do, "It's okay. I haven't really had the chance to look around yet."

"Oh - well. Maybe, if it is alright with your mother, I could show you around tomorrow? I have some free time then, maybe we can even stop for some ice-cream? I heard you like it," Regina hopefully turned her gaze to Emma, and in that moment Robin had so much respect for the brunette.

He knew how terribly hard and painful this must be for her, and she was able to have a normal conversation with Henry, and come across so collected and kind, whereas Robin was sure she was an emotional mess right now on the inside.

Emma nodded, " Of course, if Henry wants to, that's fine with me."

Henry smiled at that, "I would love to, Regina. Thank you very much."

Regina smiled at him. "It's my pleasure, Henry. I - I will stop by tomorrow in the afternoon then."

A short – for the adults very awkward – silence followed, until Regina spoke again, "Well, we must be going now. Have a great continuation of your day."

Henry nodded, "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, Regina."

Regina was barely able to mutter a goodbye at that without losing her composure, before she walked off, Robin quickly following her out the diner.

She did not wait for him, expecting him to catch up, which he did. She looked straight ahead, he knew it was a way of keeping her tears at bay.

"You did great. That was tough." Robin said, and he hesitantly put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

He saw she was debating whether she would shrug his hand off or not, but eventually she decided against it, moving her head to look at the pavement in front of her instead.

"It was indeed," she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper, but he had heard it nonetheless.

He would always hear what she had to say.

**Boom. I hope this chapter is more to your liking than the filler chapter of yesterday that just needed to happen. About that one, some of you were disappointed that Robin finding out about bits of Regina's past through the diary page didn't go with more drama. Well, let me say at that: Of course the necessary drama will happen when Regina and Robin discuss this, but it simply wouldn't be logical for them to have that conversation already. Regina doesn't trust FTL-Robin well enough yet to talk about that part of her life, so even if he ****would**** confront her with it, she would just shut him out. **

**Instead, if I were you I would worry about a whole different aspect of that page...for example over the fact that she wrote about 'her chance to escape' (and we all know what that was) and that Robin did not finish reading that page..who knows what kind of other very important information about Regina's past and this 'chance' could be on that page...**

**Well, dears, please leave me a review !**

**Also, I found a beta-reader, the wonderful PrudenceKimberly will be my saviour for that! **

**x**

**Metope**


	12. Twelve

**Twelve**

**Enchanted Forest – past**

The next day at diner, Snow was happy to find that Robin and Regina apparently both had taken her words to heart. There was no fighting, nor did they ignore each other. They politely conversed, of course occasionally one of them couldn't help but slip in a sharp remark, but it didn't escalate.

They were all able to have a peaceful dinner. That was, until a hysterical Belle, holding a silver candelabrum in one hand, suddenly barged into the dining room. It was only now that Snow realised in the first place that she hadn't seen her and Neal in the past few days.

David immediately got up, leading Belle away to the war room nearby, to prevent the commotion in the dining hall from escalating, the people were afraid enough as it was.

"We should go see what happened" Snow said, putting down her cutlery and shoving her chair back to get up.

Robin, Tink, Blue, Regina, Ruby, Grumpy and Granny nodded. Over the past few days they- together with Neal and Belle – had almost naturally formed the council that kept order and peace in the palace.

When they got to the war room, they saw that David had somehow managed to calm Belle, he was now putting the candelabrum on the table, while Belle was now staring out of one of the windows. The blank expression in her eyes did not predict much good, however. Ruby immediately rushed over to her friend, putting a comforting arm around her, as she led Belle to take place at the large table in the middle of the room.

"Belle," Snow gently spoke when they all sat down, "Can you tell us what happened? Where is Neal?"

A whimper left the brunette's lips at the question.

"I will go to get her a glass of water," Tink said worriedly at the sight of the distraught girl. Belle barely seemed to acknowledge what was going on around her, she just stared at her hands in her lap.

"We – uhm, we wanted to bring Rumple back," She then spoke, her voice sounded hoarse from crying, her eyes never leaving her hands, "we went back to his castle to look for something that could help us. We found that candelabrum in the library, and it told us where to look. So we – "

She was interrupted by Grumpy's loud snort, "a _candle_ told you where to look?" He asked in disbelief. Belle looked up at that, and stared at him with an expressionless face.

"Light the candles and you will see" was all she said.

Snow turned to Regina "Regina? would you –"

The older woman sighed, "but of course, I forgot I am allowed to use magic when it suits you all," she huffed before giving a lazy swing with her right hand that lit all three candles.

They all gasped at the face that appeared in the flames – well, honestly only Snow, David, Robin and Ruby did. Belle already knew what would happen of course; Regina wasn't impressed in the slightest, nor was Blue; Granny had seen enough odd things in her life to not be impressed by a face in a fire anymore either; and Grumpy would be damned if he would ever show anyone an expression that was not grumpiness.

"I didn't do it on purpose! I swear!" The candle-face immediately exclaimed in a heavy accent as soon as he saw where he was, and with whom, "Iet was the Witch, she forced me! She turned me into zis! I didn't have a choice!"

"Why don't you tell us first who you are? And what is it that you 'didn't do?" Granny growled, copying the man's accent at the end of her sentence.

"Oh, she did not tell you yet. Ah – I see, she is grieving," the candle spoke more to himself than to the others.

"Well, I will tell you, so the lady will not have to, iet ies the least I can do," the man then continued, "I am Lumière. I was turned into zis candle by ze witch! The Wicked Witch of the West. She knew someone would come to look for ze book about the Dark One sooner or later. And when zey would, I would have to point them to ze book she had put ze key to the Dark One's vault in."

"So Regina is not the only one with a secret vault of evil," David quipped at that which caused him to receive a death glare from Regina.

"I went with zem to the place. And there ze man called Neal, ze Dark One's son opened the vault and thus resurrected the Dark One 'imself."

At that everyone gasped – and this time really everyone did. "Rumpelstiltskin is alive again?" Blue asked shocked, "Where is he?"

"Tut-tut-tut. I am not done talking yet, am I?" The candle reprimanded, "You cannot simply bring someone back from the death. Someone 'as to pay ze price. So..."

"A life for a life," Regina whispered, shocked in the awkward silence that had fallen and Lumière nodded.

"Exactly. But ze Dark One did not want to let his son go. Instead he tried to save him. But that is when ze Witch appeared. She knew he was weak now. He could not 'old on to his son and protect ze dagger that controls 'im at ze same time. And so the Witch took the dagger from the Dark One and the Dark One's son – The Dark One's son was – uhm – how do you call iet – he was... "

"Rumple absorbed him or something," Belle now spoke up, "It changed him, it hurt him. I heard the Witch say he had to deal with the madness himself now."

Blue nodded at that, "He is two persons in one now, his mind cannot deal with that."

"Where is he now?" Regina inquired.

Belle shrugged, "I – I don't know, I – I had to – I –" the poor girl stumbled over her words before resorting to a silent sobbing once again.

"Ze Witch now controls 'im," Lumière spoke, "she ordered him to kill Belle. But I was able to prevent them from going after her right away, so Belle had time to escape, at least for now. And zat ies how we got 'ere."

When Belle's sobbing got louder, Ruby pulled the brunette in for a hug hoping it would comfort her.

"Neal is dead," She sobbed.

"- And Rumple has gone crazy and is being controlled by that green toad," Regina growled.

A deafening silence followed, in which all people present let those words sink in. Tink returned in the mean time with the glass of water and was quickly filled in by Robin about what had happened.

"So, what is our plan? This Witch needs to be stopped, and it needs to happen fast, because she can become even more powerful," David then spoke up.

"We must plan an attack. An army of men that can fight together, with my merry men and our skills in archery we must be able to defeat her," Robin suggested.

Regina laughed a mocking low laugh at that, "sure, if you have a death wish, then that is what you must do. Did you not just pay attention? We are talking about a powerful witch here who now also controls the Dark One, the most powerful sorcerer that ever was. Do you really think they will be stopped by a few men with swords and bandits with arrows?"

Robin shrugged, "What do you suggest then? The use of magic I assume? I have found that in the end manpower always prevails over magic. Plus, one should not fight fire with fire, is my opinion."

Regina just snorted as she shook her head, "honestly, thief, why don't you just continue to occupy yourself with your little group of bandits, and we will come up with a plan that actually _works?_"

"Well, please do tell us what that is," Robin snapped leaning back in his chair and making a half circle with his hand over the table to indicate Regina was free to speak.

The Queen merely arched an eyebrow, "I will indeed. After the Dark One, I am the most powerful sorceress in this realm at this moment. It is only logical that I take this up with the Wicked Witch.

I suggest we set up search parties that can spy on this Witch. We need to find out where she is hiding, how powerful she is, what she is up to, and we need to know how well she has protected her residence. Whether there are just these pathetic monkey-creatures we need to deal with or whether there is more. So that is something you all can help with very well, and then – when we know what she is up to, I will go and _crush_ that green fiasco," her eyes lit up dangerously at those words, something both Snow and Robin noticed.

"Absolutely not," Snow therefore said in a firm voice, when Regina was done speaking, "Regina, you cannot make every battle a personal one. You are not alone anymore, we can work together on this."

"_I_ am making this a personal battle? Oh no dear, _she_ did that, when she –" But Regina abruptly stopped speaking, to the others it seemed as if she suddenly realised something.

"When she what?" Snow tried.

But Regina shook her head, "nothing. Just- She took my castle, she took my clothes..I do not let anyone try to be a lousy copy of me"

Apart from Snow and Robin they all seemed to buy that excuse. The former two, however, had noticed how Regina had refused to look anyone in the eyes when she had said that; she had been lying.

David sighed, "Well, I agree with Regina in as far as that it seems logical to first investigate who we are up against here. Seeing as no one has ran into this Witch in the past, we know nothing about her, whereas she apparently knows a lot about us, and that gives her an advantage over us. We need to find out more information about her first before we attack."

"And then when the time comes, we can discuss what kind of attack that will be," Granny nodded.

"Alright, if everyone agrees with that, I suggest we end this meeting now. Belle is exhausted, it is better to discuss this when she is less upset," Snow said. And when everyone agreed on that they all went their own ways.

..

"Hello R'Gina," Roland said sweetly when he saw her at the breakfast table the following morning.

"Good morning Roland. Did you sleep well tonight?"

The boy nodded, "Can I eat with you?" He then asked, holding his little bowl with this world's version of cereal up to her.

"Of course you can," she smiled at him.

She had chosen a table away from the others because she didn't feel like conversing with the ever so optimistic Snow this morning, but for Roland she would make an exception.

"But isn't your papa here?"

"He is, he is talking to Ms. Snow over there," the boy said, putting down his food on the table, before waving in the direction his father was.

Regina saw how Robin had probably indeed been speaking to Snow, seeing as the latter just walked away from the buffet both adults had been standing at. At Robin's searching eyes now going through the hall, she raised her hand and waved shortly.

'He is here', she mouthed when he caught her eyes. She sighed when she saw him sending her a quick smile before setting off in her direction. So much for her quite breakfast this morning, she thought.

She helped the boy onto the chair next to her, and then smirked when she saw how he started to move his food around with a pout.

"Don't you like your breakfast, Roland?"

The boy shook his head, "it's the same every day."

"Oh, I see. And you do not like to eat the same thing each day?"

"Is Roland complaining about his breakfast again?" Robin then joined the conversation, as he went to sit down on the other side of Regina.

"It is yuck, papa!" Roland said with a frustrated frown.

Robin sighed, "I know my boy, but we do not have much else at the moment."

"You promised I would get a birthday cake!"

Regina's eyes saddened at the hurt she saw in Robin's eyes as he looked at his angry son. The curse had ruined much, and with so many people to feed there probably hadn't been any ingredients to create a good meal in ages, or a birthday cake in this case. And she saw that it hurt Robin, and that he blamed himself for not being able to give his son such a simple thing.

"A birthday cake?" She therefore carefully asked.

Roland nodded, "Papa promised I would get one soon. But I am five a long time now, and I still have to eat this yucky food!"

She could of course help the child out now right away by creating everything a five year old could want for breakfast using magic. But something told her Robin wouldn't appreciate that. Instead she proposed something else:

"Well, fortunately I am quite a good cook. How about we make a deal?"

Roland's eyes widened as he realised Regina was probably up to something.

"What deal?"

Regina smirked, and when she saw Robin's curious face, she gave him a wink before she answered Roland, "how about...you finish your breakfast now, and then we will go down to the kitchen later today to bake a real birthday cake together?"

Roland's face almost split into two by the wide grin that appeared on it, " rweally!?" He squealed.

"Well, if your father is alright with it of course," Regina smiled, and she chuckled when Roland immediately turned to face his father.

"Papa? Did you hear that? Can I go bake a cake with 'Gina? Can I?"

Robin smiled,"if you indeed finish your breakfast now I do not see why not."

"Thank you papa!" Roland squealed happily, and then dug into his bowl of ' yucky food'.

Regina smiled at the sight, but was met with a frown on Robin's face when she turned to look at him.

"How are you going to provide for the ingredients?" He asked soft enough so Roland would not hear it.

"Don't worry," Regina replied, "I know you are not very keen on the use of magic, but surely you cannot have a problem when I only use it to create the ingredients? We will make the cake all by hand, I really do can cook, and more importantly, it will make Roland happy, and the boy has been through enough lately, he deserves a little fun, don't you think?"

Robin nodded hesitantly, "fine. I will tolerate this, but only this time," he tried to sound stern, but Regina saw in his eyes that he was just happy already that Roland would get his birthday cake.

"R'Gina?" Roland's voice ended their little private conversation. Regina couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the boy; he had finished his breakfast so fast that more of it seemed to have gone on his cheeks, than it had gone into his mouth.

"Yes, dear?"

"Can papa come and bake with us?"

Robin grinned at that, "yes, Regina. Can I come too?"

Regina narrowed her eyes at Robin, and sent him a glare before turning to Roland with a not entirely genuine smile, "of course your father can come too, Roland. As long as he doesn't get in my way, that is."

"Oh, I wouldn't _dream_ of it."

**I planned on writing the baking scene and a part in Storybrooke as well. However, for those of you who don't know, I have a severe sugar and dairy products allergy that causes my joints to hurt really badly (among other things), and today I apparently did eat something I am allergic to, because my joints hurt pretty badly, so I wasn't able to write more.**

**I do hope you like this chapter, and the next chapter will start with the baking scene, that's a promise :)! Please leave a review to let me know what you think ;-).**

**x**

**Metope**

ps. and also: OMG YOU GUYS Almost 200 followers for this story, I never got as many followers on any story I ever wrote, thank you so much!


	13. Thirteen

**A/N: So I know it is probably still some ungodly hour in most of the world, and I know waiting with uploading a few hours would give this chapter more views. But I am just way too excited, so yay for my lovely followers who'll just get an email notification, and boohoo for all the people who are still asleep and will not see this update, but HERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER, WHOOP. **

**Thirteen**

**Enchanted Forest - Past**

After having sent away the entire kitchen staff with a mere look and a dismissive 'leave', Regina magicked the necessary ingredients for Roland's birthday cake on the table with a lazy wave of her hand. It would be a strawberry cake, for they were Roland's favourite kind of fruit.

She also magicked three aprons, a small one for Roland, and two big ones for herself and Robin; if he wanted to participate, it would be on her terms, and that meant having to wear an apron. She debated for a second whether she would give him one with red hearts on it, just to tease, but realising that she would probably have to wear one like that herself then too, she dismissed that thought.

"Alright," she spoke, while grabbing a bucket of water, what she wouldn't give right now for indoor plumbing.

"First we need to wash our hands, because we do not want any dirt from our hands, or from under our nails to end up in the cake"

The boy nodded with a serious face, and after Regina showed him how to clean his hands, he copied her movements with the same seriousness.

"Done" he sighed, when he decided his hands were clean enough.

He walked around the kitchen island, and climbed onto the stand Regina had put next to her, so he could reach the table.

"So what we do now?" He asked, eagerly eying all the yummy ingredients on the table.

"Yes, tell us your majesty, what can we do?" Robin smiled, as he went to stand on the opposite side of the kitchen island, after having washed his hands as well.

"Let's start with the strawberries," Regina spoke, moving two bowls of strawberry to the middle of the counter.

"One bowl, we are going to use to make a jam, a layer of the cake. The other ones, we will cut up into slices for the top of the cake. Roland and I will start on the former, and then you, Robin, can start on cutting the strawberries into slices."

In Storybrooke, she would have just bought a jar of jam, but seeing as they did not have any in this land, and she had promised not to use magic to make this cake, this birthday cake would really be made from scratch. Besides, she suspected Robin was mostly so eager to help out to check on her, see if she didn't cheat. Well, she would prove to him that the Evil Queen did not lie – not about her cooking skills at least.

Regina had worried things would be awkward, seeing as Robin might have _said_ they would start anew. But indeed spending time together without picking a fight was another, it turned out her worries had been ill-founded. While both adults focussed on their tasks, Roland happily chattered away to both of them about a thousand-and one things that occupied the five year old's mind. That way both Regina and Robin could engage in a conversation that was being kept friendly and neutral by Roland, even when the latter had asked a question that brought the subject to Henry, did things still go well.

"R'Gina?' The boy had asked at one point, "are you a mama?"

She momentarily paused her movements at the question. She had expected the – by now -familiar feeling of loneliness and desperation to set in as soon as she thought about her son, but despite the fact that she did feel a pang of hurt cross through her chest, that utterly destroying feeling stayed away.

"Roland..." She heard Robin's voice, but shook her head to indicate he did not have to prevent his son from speaking, as she looked up to Robin and sent him a gentle smile.

"No, it's okay," she said softly before turning to look at Roland, "yes, Roland. I am someone's mother. I have a son, he is a bit older than you are."

"Really?" The boy gasped with wide eyes, "does your son have a papa too?"

Regina smiled to herself when she heard Robin shift uncomfortably, she was both amused by the fact that he felt embarrassed for his son's rather invasive question, and she appreciated his concern as well.

"Well, " she answered, "it is a little bit complicated. You see, my son did not grow in my belly like you did in your mama's. He grew in the tummy of someone else, but this lady and my son's papa could not take care of my son when he was a baby, so I did that, do you understand?" She silently begged Roland would either understand her explanation or would let the matter slip, because any further explanation would make things painfully awkward.

To her delight Roland slowly nodded, "what's his name?" He asked, "and can I meet him?"

"His name is Henry. And unfortunately you cannot. He lives somewhere else at the moment, with his other mother."

"Oh," Roland said, slightly disappointed, "do you miss Henry?"

Regina focussed her gaze on her hands at the question, as she slowly breathed out through her mouth before answering, "yes, I love my son, and I miss him very much."

Robin observed the queen in front of him during the entire conversation. He admired the way in which she was able to make the conversation she was having with his son seem to be so casual, whereas he could see that behind the smile she had on her face, she was struggling with the pain this subject brought with it.

His heart almost broke with love, however, when he saw how Roland put his small hand in a comforting gesture on top of Regina's left one. He saw the surprise on the woman's face at the contact, and she tilted her head to look at Roland again.

"'S okay," the boy said sweetly, "you miss Henry, and I miss my mama. But I have my papa, and you... " At that the boy paused, scrunching up his nose and frowning, as his little mind tried to solve the problem he had now gotten into.

He had his papa, but who was there for Regina?

And then he knew, the adults saw as much, since there suddenly appeared a wide grin on his face and his eyes lit up.

"You can have me!" He exclaimed happily "I can keep company you until Henry is back. We can bake more cakes together and play games!"

Regina did not quite know what to say at that, she turned to look at Robin, at a loss of words, but saw he was equally baffled by the utterly selfless and kind gesture of his son. At the same time, both adults were painfully aware that indirectly – and probably unknowingly – Roland was indicating that he did want, and did need a mother figure in his life.

Regina saw that it was something that pained Robin. He was trying so hard to give his son everything he needed, and he succeeded at that, Regina knew he did. It wasn't so much a mother's touch that Roland needed, it was the touch of someone who was leading a less turbulent life than his father. Living in the woods, always moving, always being amongst the tough merry men, it taught Roland many things, but he still was only a child, and he needed the security of a comfortable, stable, and warm home as well: bake cakes, and play games, like the boy had said.

"But only if you want to," the boy added in a small voice, interpreting the silence from both Regina and his father as a form of rejection. It snapped Regina out of her musings.

"Oh Roland, sweetie, come here," she sighed.

She didn't care what Robin would think of this, she just wanted to give the boy the hug he deserved, and turned to her left to do so.

"That is the sweetest thing anyone has said to me in a while. And I would love to bake more cakes with you and play games with you," she said, as she planted a kiss in his brown curly hair. The boy happily responded to the hug by wrapping his arms around Regina's neck.

"You welcome 'Gina. We can play hide and seek!" The boy smiled happily.

"Hey, I thought that was _our_ game," Robin spoke up, feigning indignity.

Regina let go of Roland upon hearing his voice. She assumed he would be angry with her for saying yes to Roland. Robin probably did not want her to spend time with his son without him there as well. After all, she was the Evil Queen, she could not be trusted.

She ruffled through Roland's hair in a last loving gesture, before awkwardly turning back to face Robin. She had expected angry eyes to be looking at her, and was surprised when she saw quite the opposite. In fact, the softness in the archer's blue eyes was slightly unnerving to her. No one ever looked at her like that, no one had since...well, since a very long time.

"Papa, you must play too of course, silly!" Roland laughed, pulling Regina out of her reveries. Of course, that look in Robin's eyes had been for Roland, not for her.

"Thank God, for a moment there I thought you had me replaced," Robin laughed, his eyes shortly shifting to his laughing son before moving back to Regina.

He frowned a little when he saw the lost look in the woman's eyes, what he wouldn't give to know what went on in that woman's mind. Only moments ago his heart had warmed at the sight of Regina pulling his son into a hug, and Roland so happily embracing that hug. He had seen how her face had relaxed, how all the worry and the frustration that constantly plagued her, were washed away and replaced by nothing but love for his son. But just as sudden as that look had been there, it had disappeared again as well.

Roland just laughed loudly, all the while snatching a strawberry out of a bowl, and putting it into his mouth.

"Hey!" Robin scolded, "those are for the cake, young man, not for your mouth, at least, not yet."

Regina chuckled, "I think we should continue our work, before Roland here has eaten all our fruit."

The boy gave a toothy grin at her words, as they continued to work, accompanied by casual small talk for the rest of the time. Cutting fruit, making the crust and adding layers to the cake. At some point Regina had asked Robin to start on building a fire under the oven, so that when all was done, the fire was on a steady temperature and she could put the cake right in there.

"Done!" Roland sang happily, his arms raised in the air.

"Almost," Regina winked at him.

"What we need to do more?" The boy asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Well..." Regina said, "we need to clean up this mess we made of course," she gestured at the kitchen island, that now looked as if a war had happened, with flour bombs as it main weapon.

"Ahhh," Roland pouted, releasing a deep sigh, as he walked back to his kitchen stand and climbed on it to start cleaning, while the adults chuckled at his behaviour.

"Don't worry, son. With the three of us it will be done in no time," Robin smiled, ruffling Roland's hair, the boy shrugged his father's hand away though, all the while muttering something intelligible, all they could hear were 'stupid' and 'girls'.

"What was that, dear?" Regina asked, as she started to gather all the strawberry leftovers together.

"I said cleaning is stupid, girls need to do that, not boys," the boy grumbled, Robin let out an airy laugh at that.

"Who told you that?"

"You did," Roland answered.

"Oh, is that so?" Regina asked, her voice sounding dangerously low.

At that, Robin uncomfortably shifted, panic entering his eyes when he dared to cast a glance at Regina, who was just looking at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to talk his way out of that one.

"When – uhm – Whe- when did I say such a thing, Roland?" Regina smirked at Robin's obvious nervousness.

"When Unca John said you needed to clean up the camp, and then you said cleaning was for girls!" The boy said indignantly, not understanding his father's behaviour.

"Ah...I see. Well, Roland – " Robin started, rounding the kitchen island to walk to his son, actively avoiding Regina's gaze, "you see Roland, the thing is, uhm, that..."

"Oh please, get it over with," Regina growled.

"Your papa was wrong in saying that, Roland," Robin blurted out, "there is no such thing as boys and girls things. People also sometimes say only girls can cook and bake, that it is not manly for boys to do so. But we just baked a cake and I think we are both still pretty manly, don't you think?"

Regina's snort went lost in Roland's loud "Yeah!" but did not went unnoticed by Robin, just ignored.

"Well, it is the same with cleaning. If you make a mess, you clean it yourself, or with the people you made that mess with. Do you understand that?"

Robin got up again when his son nodded, "great, well, let's continue our work then. If you two clean the counter, I will go see what I can find on the floor here that should be picked up first. By the looks of it, we could make half of a second cake with all that fell down here."

"Yes, you do that, hide behind the counter," Regina said with a smug smile, knowing all too well Robin volunteered to clean the floor just so that he would not be confronted by her right now.

"I don't hide," Robin retorted from his place next to the counter, where he was now picking up fallen raisins from the floor.

"Thieves do not hide, unless they do not want to be seen. I am just volunteering to do the least favourite work of cleaning, so that the queen won't have to."

"Oh, I am sure that is it, dear," Regina smirked, while putting a hand full of spilled flour in a bowl so that it could be thrown away at once later. Roland, however, decided to do the same at the exact same time, causing their hands to collide above the bowl. Not expecting the contact, both of them pulled their hands back in a startled reaction, Regina's left hand giving the bowl a push in the process.

It happened all very fast, and the eyes of both Regina and Roland went wide when they saw the bowl tumbling a few times, before it tumbled over the edge of the table, spilling its contents...All. On. Robin-who was crouched down on his knees.

The man let out a shocked growl, when the flour and other leftovers fell on top of him, Roland and Regina simultaneously sucking in a breath, and holding that breath as it happened.

Slowly, Robin got up from his knees, and the two just watched as the man became slowly visible behind the counter, a pile of white flour on his shoulders and on his head, with a half strawberry on top.

"Who. Did. That?" The man growled, his now white eyebrows, pulled together in a frown.

"'Gina did," Roland said quickly in a mere whisper, pointing at the woman beside him, his eyes wider than they had ever been.

Robin's eyes slowly shifted from his son to Regina, the latter was just staring at him, her mouth agape, her dark brown eyes widely open as she took in the sight in front of her.

And then, slowly, _very_ slowly, he saw how the corners of her mouth started to pull upwards; how she raised her right hand to cover her mouth; how she set a few steps back until her back hit the cupboard behind her; how first her shoulders, and then her whole body started shaking; how her eyes squeezed shut.

And then the most wonderful, yet strange, sound reached his ears. Strange in a good way, strange because he had never heard it before, but he immediately knew he loved it. He instantly got addicted to that sound, he immediately knew he could not do without that sound ever again, he would have to hear it at least once a day.

Regina laughed.

She genuinely laughed. Not a tender smile, because Roland said something sweet; not a chuckle because Roland, or he himself, did something silly; not a sad smile to make everyone believe she was okay, whereas she really was not, and just wanted everyone to leave her. No, it was a real, genuine, laugh.

For the first time in _days,_ Regina laughed. Tears streamed down her face as she laughed, at him, because he figured he must be quite the sight. And when his son noticed he was not going to be mad at him he joined in the laughter. And his high, childish voice mixed with Regina's, and it filled him with happiness, until he too was laughing.

And so they laughed together, all three of them. Not just he and Roland, but Regina too. Regina laughed. And it was beautiful.

**I got feels from writing that last part, I hope you did too when reading it :P! I know there hasn't been any Storybrooke in here for two chapters now, but we will get back to that in the next chapter, because I didn't get to this part in the last chapter my planning to messed up a bit, so that's why there is no Storybrooke in here.**

**Then one other thing, to the Guest "Waterfall" who reviewed on the last chapter: I am sorry if my Lumière impression offended you, I do really love the French language. In fact, I can speak French pretty well, I studied it for a while in uni because I just adore it, I merely thought my Lumière needed to have an accent in the written word as well ;-).**

**And WHOOOOP WE'RE PAST 200 FOLLOWERS AND PAST 150 REVIEWS! Thank you all SO much for the ongoing support! Your reviews make me so happy and I love reading them, both with your kind words of appraisal and most definitely also when you have things you think are off or confuse you or if you have other tips or constructive criticism, I really do appreciate that.**

**So...please do review for this chapter as well. I have quite the story planned out for this fic. Complete with villainous sherrif, Witch, aaaaaand someone else who appears not to be who he says he is (oh and there may be a baby at some point, yes, you're welcome).**

**So review, mes chers!**

**x**

**Metope**


	14. Fourteen

**Fourteen**

**Enchanted Forest - past**

"Poor boy," Regina smiled, as she softly ran her hand through Roland's brown curls, who was fast asleep, his arms resting on the table-as a makeshift pillow-for his head, as he knelt on the stool next to the counter.

"He was so eager to try his cake, and now that it is done he is fast asleep."

Robin smiled as he eyed the amazing strawberry cake, that now stood in the middle of the kitchen island.

"We made quite an impressive cake, no wonder he is fast asleep, I have never seen him this focussed before..." His voice trailed off, as his gaze shifted from the cake to his sleeping son.

"Thank you," he added, following Regina's hand, that was still resting atop of Roland's head, up with his eyes until he met her own, "you gave Roland an amazing afternoon."

He saw surprise in her eyes at his words.

How often had she tried to help others and not gotten any acknowledgement of her deeds in the past? Regina quickly schooled her features into a polite smile.

"It – It was nothing," she averted her eyes, studying the black right sleeve of her dress. He didn't know how she did it, but she had somehow managed to keep her entire black velvet dress completely clean during the baking.

"No. It was not nothing," Robin retorted, as he rounded the kitchen island and walked up to her. She moved her head to look at him when she heard him approaching. He saw how her eyes quickly moved from him to the space between them, then to the door and back to him. Her face didn't show any emotion at all, but the movement of her eyes he had picked up on, told him she was uncomfortable with him walking towards her. With the knowledge he now had of why she felt not comfortable in this palace in general, that angered him. How could one place do all that to a person? And so, he left enough distance between them to put her at ease.

"It is like you said," he spoke, as if he had noticed nothing at all about her, "Roland hasn't had the easiest time lately, these are not circumstances a five year old should grow up in. He deserved a little fun, he deserved a proper birthday, something I couldn't give him, but you could, and you did. That is not nothing."

"Well –" she started, a smile on her face, partly genuine, and partly a bit strained, born out of the discomfort she was feeling, "I – I am just glad he had fun. I – I enjoy baking, so it was no problem at all."

He smiled at her at that, a move that apparently made her lose that feeling of discomfort, as her face relaxed a bit, and her smile grew a little wider, while she just looked back at him. He watched as her eyes moved from his, to his shoulder, and he saw how her forehead slightly creased into a thin frown.

"You still have some flour on your shoulder," she murmured, as she raised her hand to brush it off.

He chuckled, "wiping away the evidence of your evil attack, are you?"

It had been a joke, but it had also made Regina realise what she was doing; where they were; who he was, and who _she _was. She pulled her hand back, as if stung by a bee, and set a step back from the man as well.

"Yes, well, you might be an outlaw, but that doesn't mean you also have to be covered in food. That would be a bit too much, seeing as you have that forest smell working for you already," she quipped, as Robin helplessly saw how the tender smile that had graced her face moments before, was being replaced by that fake forced one, she put up to the rest of the world. He had come too close. _She_ had gone too close.

"I should be going. I need to get to the library," she said, turning around and making her way for the door already.

"Don't you want to stay to taste the cake?" He asked in an attempt to keep her here. He didn't know why, but he didn't want her to go yet, and not like this.

But Regina shook her head, "I am sure it tastes great. I might stop by later, if I can find the time. Do enjoy the cake, share it with your merry men."

And with a last smile she was gone through the door.

..

"Regina!"

Said women cringed at the chirpy voice that called for her, leaving an echo of her name to sound through the large hall she was walking through.

"Snow," she acknowledged, a hint of dismay in her voice as she turned around, yet it did not scare her former step-daughter off.

"Regina, " the woman said again, "how are you? Where have you been all afternoon?"

It wasn't meant to sound inquisitive, yet it annoyed Regina nonetheless.

"How does that concern you? Scared I have been concocting evil plans alone?" She asked, eyebrow arched.

"Oh – no I didn't mean to accuse you of anything," Snow was quick to say, and the speed with which her smile disappeared from her face, almost made Regina feel guilty, _almost_. She did, however, decide to not let the woman suffer today, and so she shook her head.

"No, it's alright dear. I was in the kitchen, if you must know. I promised to bake Roland a birthday cake and so we did."

"Oh, really! That – That is so – "

Regina smirked inwardly as she saw the woman struggling, Snow had been about to say 'sweet', but realised in time that Regina would probably not appreciate such an adjective tied to her name.

"That is – _considerate_ of you, Regina," the younger woman eventually found a word, "was- was it just the two of you?"

"No," Regina answered, her lips pursed, "that thief was there too. Roland wanted his father to help, so I...tolerated him."

She wasn't giving Robin enough credit on this, the whole thing had gone quite well honestly. Maybe a bit too well, for Regina's taste. She should be mourning her lost son, and she did, of course she did. But shouldn't she abstain from such joyous activities, as the one she just engaged in then? And hadn't it all gotten a bit too comfortable, between the two of them?

"Well, I am proud of you," Snow's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

She was proud of her? Well praise the lord, as if that meant anything, Regina thought.

"Yes, well. Whatever makes you feel happy, dear. Now, why is it you were looking for me?"

"Oh, yes, yes. I had a question," Snow smiled, "you said you already knew I was pregnant in Storybrooke, so I was wondering if you maybe...if you could tell me how far I am along, perhaps?"

Regina let an involuntary sigh escape her lips. Was that all? She had automatically assumed someone had come to complain to Snow again about something she had done, or something she hadn't, but was being blamed for anyways.

"Oh, well I cannot be a hundred percent sure, but I would guess you're about seven or eight weeks."

Snow's face portrayed a sickeningly sweet and bright smile at that, as her hand went to her abdomen.

"Was that all?" Regina bluntly asked.

The younger woman nodded quickly at that, "that was all. Thank you Regina."

"Yes, yes. That's alright, dear," Regina sighed, then turned around to continue her way, not waiting for a reply from the other woman. She wanted to be alone, Snow White alone had managed to work her way through her happiness-tolerance quota for the day.

**Storybrooke – Present – starts right where we left off in chapter 11**

"So, I heard from Emma that you found out Rumpelstiltskin is still alive?" Robin asked, as they walked up the porch to her mansion.

The walk home had done her good. Robin had started a light conversation to help take her mind off of things considering Henry, and Regina had to admit she felt a whole lot better now.

She nodded, while going through her purse, in search for her keys.

"We found a spinning wheel, and gold thread in a basement near the witch's house. I am planning on going back there tomorrow, to look for tracks."

"Shall I come with you?"

"Oh, there is no need for that," she declined his offer with a smile, "I am perfectly capable of looking for things myself."

"But two pair of eyes might see more than one?" He retorted.

"But we are looking for magical clues here, and with that you have no experience, which leaves us with just one pair again – mine. So I am sorry to break it to you, but your presence will be useless."

And with that she walked past him – having finally found her keys – up to her front door to open the door, a smirk on her face.

Robin nodded in defeat, "well – 's your loss then," he said.

She turned around, with an arched eyebrow to look at him, "no lack of self-confidence for you, isn't there?"

He grinned at her, it made him rather handsome, the same dimples would appear as when his son would smile. She had to admit, she found it rather attractive, which annoyed her to great lengths. Because he knew that, she probably was not the first woman who had a soft spot for that, yet she would most certainly not be the one to fall for it.

"Well, I will see you around then, madam mayor."

It was his way of saying goodbye to her, and he turned around to walk down the path, as she let herself into her house. As soon as she went through the door, she clicked it shut and leaned her back against it.

"Ugh, that man," she huffed to herself.

Since they met here in Storybrooke, they had done nothing but flirt with each other. She didn't know where it came from, and when she was alone, she would scold herself for it. But then, when he was there...she just couldn't help it...it was as if it wasn't a conscious decision, it just went on its own. She talked to him automatically, she laughed at him, she smiled at him...and the same seemed to happen to him, as she could see. He would always find a way to touch her when they talked, her upper arm, or her shoulder. She had observed him as he talked to Emma, and he did not do the same thing. Nor with Ruby, so it wasn't that he just didn't have a thing for blondes either.

She had had these musings several times already, and they always ended the same, just like they did now; she would scold herself for letting herself be taken up by such a trivial matter. What was she? A schoolgirl desperate to find out if some boy liked her? No. It had just been a while, and she just appreciated the attention once in awhile, that was all, she decided to herself.

**..**

"They know about the Dark One being alive."

She chuckled at that, "well, I didn't really try hard to hide that, now did I? What else did you find out?"

"That the Evil Queen will go to the house tomorrow to look for tracks. Anything magical."

"Hm, time to cover my tracks there, then," the witch spoke, as she got up and poured herself a scotch, "do you want one too?" She asked, holding the bottle up, but he shook his head.

"No, I am not in the mood. This is no casual conversation to me."

She fake pouted at that, as she walked up to him, stopping when their faces were only inches apart.

"Really? What a shame, we could have made this so much more than just a business deal."

He moved his head back ,and sent her a dark glare, "this is no business deal, this is _blackmail_, that is what it is. I told you what you wanted to know, now...where. is. my. son?"

She released a low chuckle at that, as she turned around so she could follow his movements.

"Not so fast, outlaw. As long as you prove to be resourceful, I am interested in you, and to make sure you _are_ resourceful, I keep your son here."

He sent her a death glare at that, his body trembling with held back anger. She merely laughed.

"Don't you worry, he is good taken care off. Now, I have matters that need to be taken care of, so I suggest you make yourself scarce. I expect a full report on what Regina has found by tomorrow night."

"I can't do that."

"What was that, dear?"

"I can't do that," Robin repeated with a clenched jaw, "she didn't let me go with her."

"I do not _care_ what she lets and doesn't let you do. You'll find a way!" The witch growled, losing her temper just like that. It always happened when the subject was Regina.

"Use your charms, you are a fine looking man, not even the Evil Queen is that immune to temptation, you'll stand a good chance, believe me."

And with that she slammed the front door of her house open with a wave of her hand.

"Now, leave!" She growled.

**Dun dun dunnnnnn. Don't hate me too much :D? **

**Thank you all for your reviews, favs, and follows on the last chapter again! The support is overwhelming! You seriously made it happen that I wrote this update today. Seeing as a friend is coming over to visit me tomorrow, I will be absent til at least Thursday, so I thought that I definitely should update to reward you, instead of letting you wait for this chapter a whole week!**

**So...what do you guys think ****?**

**x**

**Metope**


	15. Fifteen

**Fifteen**

**Storybrooke**

_And with that she slammed the front door of her house open with a wave of her hand._

_"Now, leave!" She growled._

But Robin shook his head, "no, this will not work!" He growled at her.

He observed how the witch stopped in her tracks, and slowly turned around. Her face contorted in an annoyed scowl, but the threat in his voice had been noticed by her, and he saw she was listening.

"People will ask where Roland is," he quickly continued now he had her attention, "I cannot say Roland is at a sleepover forever. I need to have Roland back. I will do what you asked of me, but please give me my son back. I won't be of any use to you otherwise, people will get suspicious."

She eyed him warily at that, setting a step closer to him, to intimidate him, but he did not move. That seemed to convince her he was serious about this.

"Alright," she said slowly, "you might have a point. You wouldn't be much of a spy if you would be the centre of attention."

And with a wave of her hand, Roland suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.

"Papa!" He exclaimed as soon as he saw Robin, and ran over to his father. Robin crouched down to envelop his son in a tight hug.

"Papa! I was scared!" The boy cried, as soon as he felt his father's arms around him.

"I got you, son, I got you., Robin whispered in his son's ear, as he got up to his feet again, lifting his son up with him.

"How sweet," Zelena drawled out sarcastically, "but do not be mistaken, thief. You will continue your work for me. I can get your son back within a second. My monkey's will keep an eye on you, and as soon as they find anything suspicious, you will pay the price."

Robin swallowed at that, but he did not avert his eyes as he stared back in the bright blue eyes of the witch that swirled with madness and anger.

"I will be back to report to you after Regina returns from her search," was all he said, before turning around and leaving through the still open door, his son secured in his arms. Roland was safe, for now.

..

He couldn't sleep that night. It had taken several hours before Roland had gone to sleep, in his father's arms. Robin did not mind that, the fact that his small warm body was tightly pressed against him was a reassurance that his son was safe and with him.

'You shouldn't have worked together with the team the Evil Queen is in, in the first place. You should have stayed out of it', Little John would say if he knew. But he didn't, because Little John was a monkey now. He missed his friend, he missed someone to go to, to talk about things, about this mess he had created.

The other merry men didn't know either. He had told them that Roland had a sleepover when Roland had gone missing, it was a plausible story. He made friends easily, and had actually done so when he had been at the day-care.

But then two nights ag,o he had gone to pick Roland up, and the lady there had looked so confused at him.

"You came to pick Roland up an hour ago, already. Are you alright?" She had said.

He had laughed it away, he didn't really know what he had said to talk his way out of it, but he had done so, he had left as fast as he could. Because it had been clear to him immediately: someone had taken Roland, someone bad.

He hadn't even fully rounded the corner, when he was pulled into an ally by the ugliest creature he had ever seen: a flying monkey. Shortly after that, Zelena had appeared in front of him. He had uttered a gasped 'You!' upon realising she was the Wicked Witch. She had just laughed at him, and when he had tried to lash out at her she had trapped him with her magic.

The next thing he knew, he was given the task to get close to Regina, to find what they were up to. He would have to come to report his findings the following night to her, if he wouldn't she would hurt Roland, and he would never see him again.

His son would occasionally whimper in his sleep, after which Robin would tighten his grip around him, which would calm him down. He hadn't got much out of Roland about what had happened while he had stayed with the Witch. The boy had mumbled something about a room and toys – which indicated that Zelena had not neglected his son.

Upon asking if Roland had been the only one there, his son had shaken his head, and mumbled something about a baby being there. Although every other question Robin had asked, did not provide him with any useful answers. Roland was simply too shocked, he didn't understand why his father was asking him all these things. To him it was important that he had his papa back now, and all he had wanted to do was have dinner and be with his papa.

Robin humoured the boy at that, of course his son did not feel like answering all these questions, and Robin would rather not ask them either, he did not want to make Roland relive it all.

But the fact that the witch might hold more children did worry him. And Roland could provide him with useful information that could help him get out of this deal he had with the Witch. Because this situation he had got himself into, it really was a bad one.

He did not want to betray his new friends, he did not want to help Zelena, and most of all he did not want to betray Regina. Not because he was afraid of what she might do when she finds out, no, that was the least of his concerns. But mostly because he could sense she trusted him, she trusted him more than she did others. And even though he may not have known her for a long time, but he could already say, with fair certainty, that Regina was not a woman who gave her trust easily.

And now he was about to betray that trust. Well done, Locksley, well done.

Enchanted Forest - Past

" Ah, there you are," Robin exclaimed, slight relief in his voice upon seeing his son sitting next to Regina at a table in the library, the latter was studying a book as his son was coloring with some crayons.

"Hello, Papa," the boy said sweetly, looking up from his work, "I am drawing," he enthusiastically explained.

Robin chuckled, "I can see that, but didn't I say this afternoon that you could not go bother the Queen, because she was busy?"

"I not bother her. I asked, and ' Gina said I can never bother her," the boy said defiantly.

"Oh, is that so?" Robin asked with a smirk, his gaze shifting to Regina, who was looking back at him with a smirk of her own.

"It's okay," she assured, "Roland has been very sweet. And besides, after having studied all these old dusty books, all day, all by myself, a little company doesn't hurt."

"Well, in that case..Mind if your company expands from one to two?"

He didn't wait for her answer as he grabbed a chair and went to sit down.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "it doesn't look like I have much of a choice, hm?"

"No–" He simply said, "so, what did you find so far? Anything interesting?"

Regina let herself lean back against her chair at his question.

"No, nothing at all," she sighed, "I thought I would start with reading about the land this Witch comes from, Oz, but all I can find are ridiculously useless and boring descriptions of munchkins and the lollipop guild."

Robin chuckled, "the lollipop guild does not sound like a guild the Wicked Witch would have at her disposal. It sounds too...innocent."

Regina smirked, "exactly. So in the end...today was rather useless."

"Well, I am sure you will have more luck tomorrow. After all, you have only been looking for one day."

She nodded, "it will take quite some time though. I am the only one here with enough knowledge about dark magic that can make any sense out of these books."

"What about the Blue Fairy? Or Tinkerbell?"

Regina huffed at that, "please, fairies and pixies...they are completely dependent on their dust. Outside that, they know fairly little, let alone anything about dark magic."

"I see, and, how about a way to return to the land you came from?"

Regina shook her head, "I didn't even start looking into that yet. This Witch needs to be defeated first. If we hypothetically were to find a way home without undoing the curse that blocked Pan's curse, and this Witch is still alive and running, there still would be a risk."

"So...a lot of work needs to be done."

"Indeed. First, I will have to work my way through five more books on Oz, and then...then I will see what other subject can be of use to gain knowledge on this Witch," Regina explained, all the while motioning at the high pile of the thickest books Robin had ever seen, next to her on the table.

"Well, that seems like a lot of work,"he said, genuinely impressed that she was so determined to work her way through all of it to be of help.

"I - I think we should leave you to it then."

And he moved his chair back to get up, he didn't want to be responsible for taking up her time when there was this much work to be done.

"Come on, Roland."

But the boy shook his head, "nooo." He whined, "I want to stay with R'Gina! I have been good, she said I not bother her!"

His brown eyes looked sullenly up at his father from beneath a stubborn frown.

"It's okay," Regina said once more, sending Robin a small smile, "as I said, after having spent the entire day in this library all by myself, I like the company. And Roland has indeed been very good."

"See, papa. I was good," the boy piped up with a triumphant smile, as he crossed his arms.

Robin couldn't help but chuckle at that. It was amazing for him to see how Roland had taken such a liking to Regina.

"Well, alright then," he gave in, "I guess, I will go back to see what my merry men are up to, then"

"If you want you can stay here as well?" Regina asked carefully, "I mean – I do not want to deprive you of spending time with your son," She quickly added, when he sent her a surprised look.

This was quite unusual. He was most certain she could not stand his presence, and here she was inviting him to stay. So that he could spend time with Roland, or so she said. But still, this was the Evil Queen, and if she really could not stand someone, she would not offer such a thing, would she?

Then again, things had gone fairly better between them recently. Ever since they baked the birthday cake for Roland, really. They still bickered over anything and nothing, and they still could get on each other's nerves in mere seconds, but overall they had been civil to each other.

"Alright, thank you for the offer," he finally said, "but then I will help you search for a clue." And with that he shove his chair back to the table and grabbed a book from the pile.

"Oh, you do not have to do that," Regina declined his offer, "that is not why I asked you to stay. It was – "

"I know," he cut her off, "but I want to anyways. Roland is happily colouring on his own, so I might as well help you. So tell me, what are we looking for?"

She didn't immediately reply, instead she just looked at him. He knew she was trying to figure out what his motive was, if he had one beyond what he had just said. He just looked back at her, with his blue eyes as her own brown ones searched his face for any hints.

When she found none, she sent him a small smile, "we are looking for anything that says anything about the Wicked Witch, really," she softly spoke, "anything that tells us anything about her."

"Ah," Robin sighed, "we are basically searching for everything then."

She nodded, "at this stage, yes, pretty much."

"Well, let's get started then."

**Not that long of a chapter, but an update is an update right? Gaah, I am so excited to write the next few chapters! You've probably noticed that FTL Regina and Robin are slowly getting closer, and well, it won't take long now for some action to happen, I promise.**

**I'm sorry for my absence this week, as I told you in the last update, my friend was visiting so I showed her around town. We actually kind of 'documented' our trip on twitter, if you**

**do not follow TravelLana yet, you might want to do so. We are going to continue that account when we both go to the Convention in Paris (excuse me while I fangirl), and afterwards when we have two other trips planned J.**

**Leaving a review will pretty much determine whether I start writing on the next chapter tomorrow or on Monday, so that's all in your hands J**

**x**

**Metope**


	16. Sixteen

**Sixteen**

**Enchanted Forest - Past**

In the two weeks that followed, the inhabitants of the palace seemed to fall into a – for the circumstances – rather peaceful routine.

Daily search patrols had started to investigate the forest around the castle, and when it seemed fairly safe, they had decided that people should return to the villages. The palace was overcrowded, this really could not go on much longer.

'Regina would go crazy, if all these people stay any longer in our castle', as Snow had mildly put it.

From the Wicked Witch, nothing was heard in all those days either, and now that Snow had officially announced she was pregnant–her protruding stomach became impossible to hide – the mood in the palace was slowly taking a turn for the better.

In the meantime, Regina went to the library almost every day to look for information about the Witch. Slowly, she worked her way through the many old books, writing down whatever useful information she could find. She too, found her spirits lifted. But that had less to do with Snow's pregnancy, and more with the fact that by means of a silent agreement, Roland and Robin would keep her company in the afternoons each day.

They would chat a little about what Roland had been up to that day, before the boy would either wonder off to investigate the library or would ask for a paper and crayons to draw. Robin then would join Regina in searching for any useful information, all the while they would talk about anything and nothing.

She had to admit, she quite liked it. Sometimes their conversations were about nothing important really; what kind of flowers she liked; what he thought was the best season of the year–spring, just like hers–; or she would tell him a bit about what Storybrooke was like; indoor plumbing, television, electricity, although she was pretty sure he didn't have a clue about what she was talking about half of the time in those conversations.

And sometimes they did have deep conversation. One day, Roland had gone on one of his imaginary heroic quests, they had come to talk of Robin's late wife, Marian. He had told her already how he had lost her by putting her in harm's way, when they had just met, but now he elaborated.

They had come to talk about it because she had murmured something about Rumpelstiltskin, and his reply to her gave her the idea he had known the sorcerer. Upon her asking, he had confirmed that he did. He had told her how Marian had been on the brink of death during her pregnancy with Roland. She had let out a surprised chuckle when he told her how he had stolen from the Dark One, in order to save her, upon which he smirked almost proudly. He had continued to explain how the arrow he had stolen had indeed saved Marian's life, but, all magic comes with a price.

His face had considerably saddened as he continued to tell her his story, she had offered him the opportunity to stop, she didn't want to make him relive the past, that was clearly so painful to him, but he had said it was alright. In an impulsive moment, she had then placed her hand upon his, that was lying on the table in a comforting gesture. The moment she had done it, she had tensed up a little, realising what she was doing, and expecting him to pull his hand bac. But when he didn't, she decided to leave her hand there, and continued to listen.

People had heard how Robin had saved his wife from death, using magic from the Dark One, and it had raised expectations. The magic arrow that he still possessed, did not hold any magic now anymore, but no one wanted to believe that. Even when Robin had thrown the thing away, hoping that would put a stop to all the rumours, did people go to him for the arrow. They did not believe him, they accused him of being corrupt, of wanting the arrow for himself.

And then one night, a group of bandits had ambushed them, just as they started to set up camp. It was dark, and they had walked for a long time that day, he was tired, and aside from his wife, he now too had his infant son to look after as well. The bandits had proven to be too many, and in the end it had cost him his wife.

_'I inadvertently put her in harm's way'_, he had said again. Regina had felt a pang of hurt in her chest, as she thought of how much Robin blamed himself for what had happened. She understood his disdain of magic now, it had brought him nothing but pain and misery, much like it had brought her, she thought bitterly

She didn't know if it had been because she could relate to his pain in some way, or because she felt like maybe telling her own story would show him she understood. But upon hearing his story, she too had opened up a bit, and told him about Daniel. It had gone fairly well, just up until the moment she had to tell Robin how her mother had crushed Daniel's heart. Suddenly her throat seemed to be blocked, her voice disappeared, and tears gathered in her eyes, as she choked out the words. Now it was Robin who was the one comforting her, turning his hand that was still beneath hers, so that he could close his hand around hers, with a soft squeeze.

"I'm sorry,' she had laughed apologetically, 'I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable.'

He had softly shaken his head at that, and told her she was doing no such thing. What she had gone through, what they both had gone through, was something that hurt, and which would always hurt, no matter what love or what happiness would arrive in their lives in return.

She had nodded at that. She had been right in telling him, he understood. And they both got solace out of each other's stories.

After that day, something had changed between them, but for the better. Regina felt more comfortable in his presence, and vice versa. It was as if they had connected on a new level, as if they understood each other better. Slowly they came to know more of each other's pasts. The good things, and the bad, although Regina never told Robin about the time she was married to the King. Whenever Robin would bring it up, or whenever they would stumble upon the matter, she would cleverly change the subject. To Robin, however, it did not go unnoticed how her eyes would always sadden, how the shortest pang of fear and pain would flash through her eyes, and how she would shift uncomfortably. It made him think of the ripped out page from her old diary that he had read.

But the sadness never remained for long, because before he could dwell on the matter, she would pull him into a new conversation with a witty comment, or she would catch his attention with a joke, or a sweet smile. She smiled more nowadays, but only when they were here in the library.

She felt comfortable here, and safe enough to be herself. Outside the four walls of the large library, she still was the cold Queen everyone was a bit afraid of, everyone who did not know her, that was.

"If you were planning on daydreaming all afternoon, you could have done that elsewhere as well. You are of no use to me like this," her low voice pulled Robin out of his musings, and he looked to his right to meet her eyes, finding a playful hint in them.

"Who said I was daydreaming, I might have been thinking up the most ingenious plan ever heard of to defeat the witch," he countered.

She arched an eyebrow at that, "were you?"

She snorted when he did not reply, "that's what I thought."

"Oh come on, Regina, as if you never daydream."

Her face suddenly saddened as she put down the book she had been reading, and leaned back in her chair, "not much for me left to dream about, dear."

He blinked at that, "you mean you never dream?"

"If by dream, you mean a _pleasant_ experience, then no. Not for as long as I can remember."

"Not even when you were a child?" He tried, and it had been the wrong thing to say.

He observed how she dealt with the emotions and memories that rushed through her, by closing herself off. Apart from Regina's time as Leopold's queen, her childhood was the other tricky area of conversation. She was very careful in what she chose to tell him about it. Of course Robin could understand why that was, having a mother who killed her true love, and then forced her into marrying a man thrice her age –the latter she had not said with so many words, but he knew that from the diary page he had read – could not have been a pleasant mother at all.

"No, not even as a child. I guess I have just not that much of an lively imagination," She spoke with a clipped tone, and he understood that was the end of that.

"Well," he tried to save the conversation, "of course, having lived in a castle this luxurious, with almost everything at your disposition, who would need to daydream then?"

Well, he could just shoot an arrow through his own body at that, and bite his tongue; seeing as shooting that arrow would not be very smart.

Hinting on her life as the queen, had he learned nothing in the past two weeks? He should get an award for mentioning the two taboo subjects of Regina's life in one go.

"Yes. Of course.." Regina said, only to be polite, her voice void of emotion, as she stared blankly ahead, lost in what he could only guess were bad memories.

Robin thanked the gods of all the realms when just then Roland decided to join his father and Regina again so he could tell them about a mouse he had found somewhere in the library. His son practically was a god himself, seeing as he was able to pull Regina out of her reveries and create a loving smile on her face in mere seconds.

..

That night, when sleep would not come, because he was still beating himself up for having been so inconsiderate that afternoon regarding Regina, Robin decided to see what else Regina had written on that diary page.

On the one hand, he felt like he should not read it, seeing as it was essentially her diary, and meant to be read by her eyes only. On the other hand, however, he was worried about her. He saw how Regina suffered whenever something, or someone in the castle would suddenly trigger a memory about her time as queen. He wanted to understand it, so that maybe he could help her. After all, he had vowed to find Regina a reason to live.

So after having debated what to do for over an hour, he finally decided to read the page. Carefully, as to not wake Roland, who was sleeping beside him, he had gotten out of bed, and took the piece of paper from the drawer of the desk, where he had put it in. After lighting a candle, he sat down at the desk, letting his eyes fly over the text he had read the previous night, until he found where he had left off.

Slowly he read the words that Regina had written, the page continued with the young Regina describing her feelings of abandonment, loneliness and darkness. His stomach turned at the desperation in her words. She then wrote once more about the second chance that had been offered to her.

He was surprised to find out it was Tinkerbell who had offered this second chance, whatever it was, and that Tinkerbell was the friend the young Regina had hurt. Well, that surely explained the uncomfortable tension present sometimes between the two women, Robin thought, before continuing to read the rest of the page.

However, he had not been prepared for what followed. As he continued to read, his eyes scanned the page faster and faster. He didn't notice he was holding his breath by now, he was completely focussed on the words written with black ink on the parchment. When he reached the bottom of the page, he turned it so fast it was barely visible that he did so, as his eyes continued to fly over the back. When he had reached the end, he just kept staring at it, his breathing heavy, the words now seemingly coming alive and dancing over the paper, until he tossed it aside on the desk, getting abruptly up in the process which caused the chair to fall over.

His eyes inadvertently travelled to the lion that was tattooed on his wrist. This could not be. This did not make sense.

How was this possible? Did she know? Had this been some sort of evil plan of hers all along?

**Storybrooke – Present**

"No," she said, as if reprimanding a child, as soon as she saw him walking up to her from behind the bush that had been his hiding place.

"You followed me?"

He held his arms out in a defenceless manner, his crossbow in one hand, "I couldn't very well let you go unprotected to the evil lair of a wicked witch, now could I?"

"Yes, you could have. You _very_ well, could have," she retorted, crossing her arms in front of her.

He merely smirked, "too bad then that I am here anyways. Now, let's go inside, shall we?"

She just eyed him at that. Was she going to let him tag along? He was infuriating, yet he had been so kind as to walk her home, after her little breakdown upon seeing Henry. He had helped her out of there, when everyone else did nothing but stare at her.

"Fine," she huffed, "but _don't_ get in my way."

He made a motion, as to take a bow, and smirked as he walked past her towards the house, "I wouldn't _dream_ of it."

That comment set something off in her memory. She felt a déjà-vu feeling rush through her, without actually remembering anything, "are you sure we didn't meet before?"

He turned around at that, a surprised look on his face.

"I think I would remember running into an evil queen such as yourself," he winked, before turning back around, and walking up to the house, not waiting for her to reply.

"So, what are we looking for exactly? This place seems wiped clean, as if she knew you were coming," he said as soon as they entered the house.

Regina pursed her lips at that, before rounding the table and walking up to the wall to the shelves stocked with bottles and flasks.

"A good witch, covers her tracks," she spoke, "but a _better_ one can uncover them."

He silently laughed at that, as he leaned back against the table. He didn't know what it was, but there was something extremely intriguing about the woman in front of him. So intriguing honestly, that he would almost forget he was betraying said woman in the worst way possible in that very moment.

"You know, what you said outside...'an evil queen _such as _myself'. You said it as if there are different kinds of evil queens?" Her voice pulled him out of his reveries, and he smirked at her question, as he stared at her back. So his comment had indeed triggered her curiosity then.

"Well of course there are," he said.

"Oh! Do enlighten me, dear. What type of evil queen am I then?" She asked without turning to face him, but he could hear the amusement in her voice.

He grinned, "the kind that is _said_ to be evil, but is really not. Bold and audacious and – no pun intended – wickedly stunning, perhaps. But evil? No, not evil."

Regina was glad she was facing the wall in that very moment, because she was having the hardest time hiding the smile that had appeared on her face at his words.

Who was this man? Why did she feel so different when she was close to him? And how was it possible that this man, out of all the people in all the realms, that knew of the Evil Queen, knew of her deeds, did not judge her for it? How was it possible that this man, this _thief_, was able to look past the title that was given to her?

She turned around to face him, the smile still slightly on her lips, "the moniker served me well. Fear is _quite_ an effective tool."

He nodded at that, sending her a smile of his own.

"Well I would still prefer other adjectives to describe you and your beauty."

There it was again, were they compliments? Was he consciously flirting with her, or was he just trying to trick her into believing he was?

She did not know, and she did not know whether she liked it either. Or rather, she knew she liked it, the tingling sensation in her stomach told her as much, she just wasn't sure if she _liked_ that she liked it.

"So all of these things contain magic?" Robin then asked.

"Well, not all of them, but most of them do, yes," She replied, glad that he gave her something to change the subject.

However, she had let relief wash over her too soon, as he suddenly moved away from the table and walked up towards her. She involuntarily held her breath, not daring to move, as he came closer and closer, until he was right in front of her. Yet his movements did not stop, as he leaned forward more and more, her eyes travelled to his lips, that were approaching hers ever so slowly.

And then suddenly, he reached up to something next to her head, and pulled his hand back holding a flask.

"And this? Is this magic?" He asked, and when she shortly looked at him, before looking at what he was holding, she could not decide whether he had been consciously messing with her, or that she really had made it all up.

Upon seeing the flask in his hand she smirked, an idea already forming in her head.

"Hm, not exactly," she spoke, "however, it can give you strength, and courage, and can even act as a love potion of sorts."

"Ah, I see," Robin said genuinely, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"It is called whiskey, and no, it is not magical. Especially the next day."

"Oh," Robin chuckled, seeing what she was getting at, "well, let's pour us a glass."

"You want to have a drink, now?" She asked in surprise, as she watched how he grabbed two empty glasses, and started pouring the drink into them.

"Well, in the last few days, we've survived a curse, woken up in an entirely new realm – well, in my case that is –, and forgotten a year of our lives. I say we've earned it, wouldn't you?"

She chuckled, and nodded as she walked up to him, to take the glass from him.

"Besides," Robin added, still holding on to the glass, "I never let a chance to have a drink with a woman go by."

"Careful, thief," she smirked, not allowing herself to get lost in his words this time, as she stared back in his blue eyes, "Or I might get the wrong impression."

"How do you know it is the wrong one?" He countered, which caused her to smile once more.

She was about to reply, but had to focus her attention first on not letting the glass that they had both still been holding, but what Robin had let go off now, fall. Upon doing so however, her eyes caught sight of the thief's lower arm, and what she found there, caused her to drop the glass of whiskey with a startled gasp, before bolting of out the house, completely ignoring a confused Robin calling her name.

**A longer chapter to make up for the previous shorter one. I am very curious about what you guys think of the developments in the FTL storyline this chapter!**

**Also, the end of the academic year is slowly approaching, so more and more thesis work is awaiting me. So I made a planning, which basically states that I have time to write on either Fridays or Saturdays, so from now on that will probably be my update days, any updates around those days just means you are lucky ;-).**

**x**

**Metope**


	17. Seventeen

**Seventeen**

**Storybrooke**

She had been looking at them for quite a while now, so long that the sun had already started to set, and the coat she was wearing no longer shielded her from the cold of the night, and the cold breeze that was slowly arriving.

She had mocked him, she had said she pitied the boy for having him as a father. But the truth was, he was great with his son. She could see it in the way he interacted with the five year old, that he truly was a great father. Roland looked up athis father with great adoration in his eyes, and received an equal amount of love from his father.

It warmed her heart, and frightened her at the same time. So this man was meant to be her true love? her soul mate even? So this was the man whose life she destroyed by denying herself a chance on love? According to Tinkerbell, at least.

Had she been the reason why Robin lost his wife? Had she been the reason why Roland was now motherless? She could not bear to think of that, yet another awful thing she could add to her list of evil and destructive deeds. She truly had quite the resume by now. What did one evil deed more or less matter?

It mattered that she cared about this one. During her time as the Evil Queen, she had done many evil things, some she regretted, some she did not, some she did not even remember anymore. She was ashamed to admit it, but it was true. But even the ones she regretted, even killing Graham, did not hurt her as much as the thought that she was responsible for any misery in Robin and Roland's lives.

'And why was that?' she asked herself. Because she cared for him? She had cared about Graham too...yet it was not the same. Because there was a child involved? She had not hesitated to rip Hansel and Gretel away from their father. So then why? Because he seemed to have taken an interest in her? Hadn't there been many men who had done so? She wasn't stupid, she knew she wasn't ugly, he wouldn't be the first, and maybe not the last to find her body desirable either.

But with Robin...with Robin it seemed to be a genuine interest. An interest that went beyond a purely physical attraction. The way he had helped her out of the diner when she spotted Henry...

Henry.

Upon mentioning his name, she suddenly was pulled out of her reveries about Robin, and pulled into new thoughts about her son. She had given him the tour through the town that shehad promised him yesterday afternoon.

She had had both a wonderful, and a dreadful time. Wonderful, because oh she was so proud of her son. She had raised him so well, and Emma had done equally so during the past year. He was polite, he was funny, clever, and he was growing up to truly be a fine young man, as he entered the years of puberty. It hadn't gone unnoticed by her how his voice had dropped, how his arms seemed too long for his body. And above all, to her great delight, she had noticed how he thought grown-ups, especially Snow and Charming, were really pretty boring, honestly.

Because of that she was all the more happy when he did seem to enjoy the afternoon he spent with her, after all she was a grown up too. Yet up until now, she seemed to be the only resident of Storybrooke he was warming up to a little, along with Hook. Which was logical, seeing as a one handed man,dressed as a pirate, who could sail a ship, could not be filed under the 'grown-ups are boring' tab of any teenage boy.

They had talked about anything and nothing, really. He had told her bits of his time in New York, and about Emma. Apparently Henry had met the monkey Emma had dated, which makes sense seeing as Emma had apparently genuinely been considering his marriage proposal.

It had been a great afternoon, and it was probably another part of the reason why she found it so painful to watch Robin interacting with his son. Because, at the end of that day, when she had had to say goodbye to Henry again, she could not give him a hug, but had to shake his hand. She had had to shake the hand of her own son by means of goodbye. There were somany thing wrong about that.

Henry had been her light in the darkness. For Henry, she had been willing to change. Henry was the reason her heart was not entirely black, but had tiny red dots weaved through it. As little as they were, they were still there.  
She hadn't looked at her heart in quite some time now. Not since she had pulled it out to show it to Tinkerbell in Neverland. Would the red dots still be there? Or would the year she had spent without Henry have eaten up the bright red dots? Replaced it again with the darkness that had been there before?

As curiosity struck her she slowly moved her hand up to her chest, placing her hand flat against the skin, above her softly beating heart. She set a few steps to the side, so more trees were hiding her from the view, in case any of the men would suddenly look her way.

Inhaling deeply she pushed her hand inside her chest, and pulled her heart out in one swift move. What she saw when she held the beating organ in her hand, almost made her dropit, as a gasp left her lips.

The small tiny sparks of red had definitely disappeared, there was no doubt about that. However, instead of blackness replacing them, quite the opposite seemed to have happened. The red dots had grown into bigger red spots instead, making her heart look much brighter, with much more red than she had ever seen it before.

The darkness was still there, with black lines still visible across her heart. But they were much less black, and there were less of them. Her heart still looked battered, and it still reflected the inner turmoil and pain she was feeling. But somehow, in some way, over the past year, she had managed to brighten her heart.

A thought that both frightened her, and comforted her at the same time. What if she would darken her heart again, now she had to fight this witch?

Yet, on the other hand, she had apparently done something good in the year she could not remember. She had continueddown the path she had set out for herself when she decided to give her son up to save the town. And that gave her...well not hope, hope was something Regina did not believe in anymore, too much had happened. But it did give her something to hold on to, something to fall back on.

And so, in the end, Regina did end that day with a smile gracing her lips, as she softly pushed her heart back inside. Maybe there was still a chance for a less painful life for her after all.

**Enchanted Forest - Past**

Regina could deny it all she wanted, but she liked this little ritual she had started, with Robin and Roland coming to visit her at the library in the afternoons.

And she could deny it even more, but she also couldn't help but admit that she had started to be...less annoyed by the thief as well. As a matter of fact, she had started to prefer his company over that of David, or the bookworm; everything between them was so awkward because of the whole asylum thing , or Snow, especially Snow.

And, from what she could see, Robin had started to dislike her less as well, and that pleased her. She had long since given up fighting the fact that she, for some reason, found it important that he liked her, and now that he seemed to indeed do so, she couldn't help but be content.

As a matter of fact, she had even changed her choice of clothes along with his change of behaviour. The thing was, the man might think that the glances he would steal at her, had been hidden and had gone unnoticed, but of course she had seen it. And in the dayshe infuriated her the most, she would wear the most revealing dresses, all set on making him as uncomfortable as possible. She knew very well what effect she had on men, during her time as queen, many rumours and tales had come to her ears, telling how she supposedly could bewitch a man upon first sight with her looks.  
Well, she thought, if all they saw was an evil queen with extraordinary beauty, and they never look past that, she might as well make use of it.

But with Robin, with Robin things were different now. If she been utterly convinced at first that he despised her, and that he saw her exactly like everyone else; like the evil queen with striking beauty, that conviction had changed.

Over the past weeks, their talks, the information they shared about their lives, the laughs they had ; made her believe that Robinmaybe did not see her as just evil and beauty alone.  
He seemed genuinely interested in her, in her life, in what she thought. And so, when she did caught his eyes shortly raking over her body, it made her feel uncomfortable. So, she resorted to less revealing gowns instead. For it was not a purely lust filled stare,like she was used to getting from so many men.

When Robin would look at her, she felt like he was really lookingat her, at who she was. He didn't just see her body, it seemed he could see her for who she was. Of course they were short moments, usually when they would share a story about their past, and they would be gone as fast as they had come, and she probably read much more into it than really was there. But what she in fact was very sure of, was that Robin was most definitely different than all other man she had encountered in her life.

He was more like...like Daniel. A thought that brought her great fear. Never ever had she had been able to compare anyone to Daniel, never had anyone given her reason to do so. Never...until this thief came around. This thief, with his son, whom she had started to care a great deal about.

And to be fair, who could blame her?

She was sure not a single person in this realm, or the next, could not love Roland, especially with those dimples of his. At first, she had found it difficult to interact with the boy, she felt so guiltyevery time he made her smile, wasn't she betraying Henry? But by now, she had come to the understanding that Roland and Henry were - naturally - two different children. And that if she had to laugh about Roland's behaviour, or felt her heart warm at something Roland said or did, did not mean she was replacing Henry.

And the more she got to accept that, the more she enjoyed the company of the boy and his father. Which was why she was surprised to find herself staring out of the library window, at the sun falling behind the trees at the horizon, without having seen Robin or Roland.

Well, she told herself, they probably had more important things to do. Maybe something had come up with the merry men, or maybe Roland did not feel like going to the library today.

At dinner, she found Robin and Roland indeed sitting at the table with the Merry Men, instead of the large table she herself sat at with Snow and the others. She caught his eyes once, Roland waved enthusiastically at her when he saw her, and although Robin sent her a short smile, she couldn't help but feel like something was off. However, as she did not want to appear clingy, or needy or possessive in any way – what if he would read something into it that wasn't there-, she did not go over to them to figure out what was going on.

Instead, she resorted to growling one word replies to Snow's questions about why Robin and Roland were not sitting with them. The younger brunette had noticed the changing relationship between Regina and Robin.

"I am glad things are going better between you and Robin, Regina," she had said with that typical bright smile on her face, "Iknow you still do not like each other, but since Roland really seems to like spending time with you, and I know you enjoy it as well, I think it is very big of you two, to bury the hatchet during those afternoons."

Regina had smirked at the diplomatic way in which Snow had addressed the ' arrangement' between her and Robin. Because it was true, during those afternoons they might act civil with each other , Snow did not have to know that their conversations were much more amicable than the armistice-like state she thought those afternoons to be in. But they both had a reputation to uphold, so outside the library, she herself went back to the Evil Queen, who despised forest smelling thieves - she did despise that forest smell, she really did - and Robin would go back to the royalty-hating bandit, and courageous leader of the merry men, who was not afraid to fight the evil queen on anything that he did not like, and vice versa.

But Regina did not see Robin or Roland that entire week, and had she been able to brush it off as nothing in the first few days, now she really did start to get a bit annoyed, maybe a tad worried, andmost of all, she was insulted. Because all of the sudden,everything seemed to have gone back to how it was when they had met the first time. Robin kept his distance, he wouldn't greet her anymore with that bright smile of his, not even when they would run into each other alone, when they did not have to uphold their image. He was avoiding her, any smile he did sent her was fake - he was rather bad at hiding his emotions, or showing fake ones for that matter - and more than a ' good morning' or, a short nod of the hea,d had not been exchanged between them for that whole week.

She hadn't seen Robin or Roland that whole week. Once, two days ago to be precise, Roland had showed up at her table during breakfast. She had been up early on purpose, knowing that Robin and Roland would be awake already, but no one else yet. And oh, she had felt so relieved when she noticed Roland walking up to her.

Would they go back to sitting at their table then? Would it all have been something she had made up in her head? Had there never been a problem at all?

But the boy hadn't even fully climbed on the chair yet, before hehad to slide off of it again, upon hearing his father call for him.

"But papa, I want to eat with 'Gina. I haven't seen her foraaaages!" He objected, but the stern stare of his father, who was standing a few feet away from the table, made him obey, andtrudge to his father with an upset pout.

"There are plenty of seats free here, you two could join as like you normally do?" Regina had tried, but Robin had just shaken his head, as he had turned around already, not even sparing her a glance.

"No, we are sitting fine where we are with my merry men."

And that was that.

But today she wouldn't let it slip, today she would confront him about this rude behaviour. She did not let herself be treated like this, without any explanation. She had had three sleepless nights about it already, as she had gone over the past two weeks, over and over again in her mind, trying to figure out if she had said or done something that could have upset him. But to her surprise, she really couldn't find anything at all that could explain any of it had brought her was, bad skin and bags under her eyes, and thus is was time for answers. And when the Queen needed answers, answers she would get.

With large strides, she left her chambers and made her way over to Robin and Roland's room. Upon knocking thrice without any sign of movements on the other side, she decided to just barge in , only to find the room to be completely empty.

Upon turning around, she saw that colossal of a friend of Robin, ironically called Little John, just passing by.

"You!" She called out to him, "wait! Where is the thief?"

The man halted upon hearing her voice, to her annoyance, he first looked confused, turning around to look in front of him and behind him, to see where the sound had come from, before helooked to his left and saw her standing there.

"Your majesty, why are you here?" He had addressed her using her title, yet his tone of voice had not been kind. Robin might trust her - or so she thought, but nothing was sure anymore right now - but because he was still just as nasty to her in public as she was to him, his merry men didn't trust her in the slightest.

"I am looking for the leader of your group of miscreants," she bit out.

"And why is that?"

She walked up closer to him, "that is none of your business. I need to speak to him, and so I will."

He just smirked at her, not in the slightest intimidated by her, which made sense, seeing as he was almost twice her size in both length and width.

" I am afraid that is not possible."

She quirked a brow, " oh really? And why is that?"

"Because he has left."

She huffed at that, " then I will wait, when is he expected to be back?"

The man shook his head, the smirk on his face indicating he was greatly amusing himself.

"No, I mean he has left. As in, he is gone."

"Yes, yes. I know what left means, you fool. So I asked you a new question, I know your brain must be slow with processing things, but do try to keep up with me, I do not have all day, will you?" She snapped.

To her frustration the smirk on the man's face grew only wider,"well, if you understand the meaning of ' left' so well, your majesty, then I am sure you understand my confusion over your question. Seeing as left in this case, means he is not coming back. Robin. Has. Left. He has left the castle. Look around you, there is nothing of his or his son here anymore, because he packed his things and he left."

At that Regina blinked, dazed.

" Wh - what?" She asked confused, looking around the room she was standing in, to indeed find it to be empty, safe for the things that had been in the room before the thief and his son had occupied it.

"We have stayed in this palace long enough. Robin finally saw the light, and decided we should move out again and live back in the woods. Where we belong. This odd collaboration with you royals went on for much too long. The merry men are going back to the forest. Robin left this morning with Roland, and half of the group to find a place to start a new camp. A messenger from our groupjust arrived to inform us he has found a place. I am following now with the others. So if your majesty would excuse me.I have places to be."

And seeing as she was too shocked to say or do anything, he had the nerve to turn his back on her and leave. And she indeed did nothing about it, didn't even shout anything at him, to let him know she did not tolerate this kind of behaviour towards her.

Because Robin and Roland had left. Just like that, without telling her. After a week of keeping his distance, he had left. She sighed. She really wondered how it could be that she was so bad at picking out people to trust. Every single person she had ever chosen in her life to place her trust upon, no matter to which degree, had betrayed her sooner or later, had broken her trust.

Just like Robin had done just now. Right when she had started to think that maybe, just maybe, she had found someone who understood her in this man. Just when she thought they had found a formula that worked; afternoons in which they could both just be themselves, while being the person they wanted to appear to beto the outside at other times. And now everything caved, and everything was shattered.

Just like it always did. She balled her hands into fists, as the initial devastation and hurt she had just felt, slowly changed into anger and rage. How dare he! And how stupid had she been? She had been vulnerable after losing Henry, she had let her guard down,and he had made quick use of it to get to her, and then crush her heart a little more. Because that truly seemed to be the sole purpose of everyone around her, to hurt her whenever they now she was actually being upset about a thief breaking her trust? How deep had she sunk for this to happen? He was a _thief_,of _course_ he would betray her.

Well, she was not going down that easily. With a growl, she leftthe room, slamming the door shut behind her. She was going to go to that damned library, and find something to defeat that damned witch with. She had let herself get distracted for far too long now. This witch needed to be taken down, then everyone could leave, and she could be alone.

That was best. It was best for anyone, and most of all, it was best for her. Because if she were alone, there would be no one to hurt her.

**Now do not hate me. I promise you, either in the next chapter or the one after that I will officially establish Outlaw Queen, this just needed to happen first for the storyline to continue. In the next episode we will see from Robin's point of view how he deals with the fact that Regina is his true love (not too well judging by this chapter), what made him decide to leave, and if and how he will return. :)**

Be kind and leave a review please :D.

x  
Metope


	18. Eighteen

**Eighteen**

**Enchanted Forest - Past**

Little John walked away with a slightly evil smirk on his face; the Queen had bought his story for the truth right away. And more importantly, her reaction to the news that Robin had left, told him he made the right decision. He had saved Robin out of the hands of the evil Queen,just in time.

_One week ago_

Robin was a calm and relaxed John liked that about him, and he thought it was part of the reason why Robin made such a good leader to their group of merry men. Even when someone, or something would upset Robin, he would not loose that sense of calmity and collectiveness.

Hence Little John's surprise, when he collided with a very nervous Robin that morning, upon rounding the corner on his way to the dining hall.

"Robin," he said in surprise, "where are you going to, my friend?"

And upon seeing his face a little better, he asked, "and what happened to you? Are you alright? It is as if you have seen a ghost."

Robin on his part, just shook his head, barely looking at his friend, as he tried to walk past him.

" I need to find the fairy, Tinkerbell," he murmured.

"Why? For what?" Little John asked, his face slowly changing into a worried frown, when he saw his friend so unlike himself. Instead of moving out of the way, he therefore blocked the way entirely, and placed both his hands on Robin's shoulders, forcing the man to stop walking, and finally look at his friend.

"Robin. Calm down, what is going on? Why do you need to speak to the fairy?"

"I- I found out some information, which was quite unexpected, and I need to know if it is true."

"And the fairy is the only one who knows?"

Robin nodded, "yes, so if you'd please let me go, I can get to her before breakfast."

But Little John shook his head, "not before you tell me what this is about."

"John," Robin sighed, but the man did not budge.

"No. This is clearly something that has you upset, and I want to know what it is. You are the leader of our group, but most of all, you are my friend. And as your friend, you can trust me. Please tell me what is going on, it might even calm you down a bit. Because in the state you are in now, you should not be seeing anyone at all. You would only scare the poor fairy."

Robin slowly breathed in and out, looking back at his friend, seeing his calm face, and the slight frown that tells him Little John really is worried about him, and just wants to help, so he nods.

"Alright, but not here. Let's talk in the garden."

"Well, tell me. What piece of horendous information has managed to get you this upset? Does it have anything to do with the Wicked Witch?"

"No, no. None of that," Robin quickly shook his head, as he walked up to the large apple tree in the centre of the courtyard.

"Then what?"

"I - I found a letter..."

"And?" Little John asked, now slightly getting impatientwhen Robin did not continue.

"And it said...it told me who my true love is, my soul mate even."

"Aha." That, Little John had not expected. "And you are not too pleased about whom it is then, I take it?"

Robin frowned, shook his head, then nodded, then shook his head again.

" I don't know. Mostly I am just confused about it all, and I want to know if it is true. If it is still true."

"What do you mean with _still_?"

"The parchment was written many, many years ago;before I even knew Marian. The lady in question, she did not choose to seek me out, when she learned that I was her soulmate. But she does not know it is me, she just knows it is a man with a lion tattoo."

"And you know this woman? Who supposedly is your soul mate?"

Robin nodded once again.

"Who is it then? Come on friend, you have me dying of curiosity here."

Robin let out a deep sigh at his friend's words, and instead of facing him, turned his back towards him, staring up at the large apple tree, as he mumbled the name of his true love.

"I'm sorry, Robin, I could not quiet catch that," Little John chuckled, as he walked up to Robin, "just say it already. It can't be that bad. As long as it isn't the Evil Queen, I think you're good."

The silence that followed, and the way Robin's head whipped around to face his friend, blue eyes wide and piercing, made Little John set a step back in surprise.

"You mean, that she is said to be your true love?"

He started to laugh, when Robin nodded.

"You got me there, friend! For a second I believed you."

But his laughter died, when Robin did not laugh along with him, "wait, you are serious?"

"But come on, Robin. What happened to your common sense!" Little John exclaimed when his friend nodded.

"You cannot believe that parchment! No matter how old it is. It is clearly some sort of twisted trick. This is her latest scheme in that childish fight of banter the two of you have been keeping up ever since you met. Surely you are not foolish enough to let yourself get all worked up over something as trivial as that? Even if it were real, which I am sure it isn't...what is there to worry about? You two positively can't stand each other!"

He halted his little speech of reprimands, when he noticed that Robin had done nothing to argue with him, didn't even try to talk back to him, not even now that he had stopped.

" Robin," he started again, but now in a softer, calmer tone of voice, "don't let this get to you. She is the Evil Queen, you are Robin Hood, the thief who steals from the rich to give to the poor. That alone, makes it so highly implausible that the two of you are meant to be;that that piece of paper cannot be right. It is probably either a prank from one of the men, or indeed some sort of scheme. Either way, it is nothing to worry about."

Robin slowly nodded at that, "it does indeed sound like the most implausible thing to ever happen."

Little John smiled at him, "that is because it is. God, Robin, I can't believe you believed that for even a second. The two of you cannot stand each other, you hate her."

Robin nodded at that, a small smile on his lips that was only half hearted, but that was something Little John did not notice.

"Now, let's have breakfast. I'm starving."

In the days that followed, Robin kept his distance from Regina, and he made sure Roland did too. He needed to think; Little John's words rang through his head.

'It is a scheme', 'someone must have tried to trick you', ' you hate her'.

But was that true?

No, it wasn't. He could easily answer that question with a firm no; he did not hate her, not at all.

Maybe even quite the contrary, he cared for her. He had started to care more for her than he would like to admit, and that made it all so much more complicated. Because if it really all was a scheme by her, well then, he couldn't help but admit that he would be hurt by that.

And he did not even want to think about what that would mean to Roland, who had really started to like Regina. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Robin how his son had started to behave towards the Queen, as if she were his mother.And how Regina had slowly started to let her motherly instincts come out more and more. But if that too had all been part of the scheme..how was he ever going to explain that to his son?

On the other hand, he hadn't seen Regina, hadn't talked to her in three days now. And in those three days, he had noticed how she was constantly looking their way in the dining hall, when she thought he did not see.

And oh, that slight hint of sadness, that slight hint of betrayal in her eyes, did not go unnoticed by Robin. Surely that could not be faked? She genuinely seemed to be hurt by his sudden distance, the cold way in which she now greeted him, the shielded look in her eyes, behind which he could only barely see the hint of hurt that was there, it told him that her behavior over the past few weeks had been genuine.

When he went purely by what he felt, he felt that she did not know who he was, that she did not plan any evil scheme whatsoever, and that he truly was hurting her by staying away from her, without any sort of explanation.

In the meantime, Regina, of course wasn't the only one who had noticed a change in Robin's behavior. Roland had asked repeatedly why they hadn't gone to see' R'gina', and Little John, despite the fact that he knew about what was bothering Robin, had repeatedly asked as well what was going on.

His friend simply did not understand, and how could he. After all, to Little John, it truly was as if Robin and the Queen hated each others guts. Every afternoon, they had spent together, Robin had explained his absence by saying he was having some quality time with Roland,and did not want to be distrubed. And seeing as his merry men respected him as their leader, they also repsected that request.

So of course Little John could not understand why Robin was thrown so much off his game by this letter. Yet, it hadn't prevented the man from observing his friend a little better, as soon as he noticed that Robin had not let go of his worries yet. And what he found, did not please John at all.

In hindsight, he wondered how he could not have noticed it before? Probably because both Robin and the Queen did a terrific job at hiding it all, especially now that Robin purposefully kept his distance, but now that he knew what to look for, the signs were everywhere.

At each meal time, so many glances were being sent back and forth between the two, John had lost count the one time he had tried to keep track of it. Every time they thought no one was looking, every time they thought the other was or wasn't looking - depending on what was their intention - they would steal a glance at each other. The Queen's eyes would soften ever so slightly for only a second, her dark black eyes would shift to a warm chocolate color. As for Robin, well Robin would look ather in a way, that Little John had only seen for one person in all those years, and that had been Marian. And that particular fact, he did not like one bit, at all.

It did however, explain why Robin had been so absentminded lately. The man was struggling with the knowledge he had, because he did care for the Queen, a feeling that was probably even strengthened, just because he now knew of this true love soul mate prophecy.

All of this irritated Litlte John greatly, this wasn't good for anyone. This was the Evil Queen they were talking about, that was not a woman fit for Robin. This woman had done unspeakable things. And they might have said she had changed, but who knew that was true? Who knew she wasn't scheming some evil plot? Who knew she wasn't working together with the Wicked Witch for that matter? Ever since she and Robin had ' freed' the castle from the Witch's wrath, no one had heard anything from her anymore, apart from the incident with the Dark One.

So it was clear what had to be done, to Little John, they needed to talk.

"So, what is it you wanted to speak to me about?" Robin asked, as soon as he entered the counceling room that Little John had claimed that night to speak with Robin.

The large man shrugged, "nothing that important.."he started, "it is just, I couldn't help but notice that you still seem a bit...on edge. So I was wondering why that is?"

Robin looked at his friend in silence for a couple of seconds, they knew each other since they were children, and thus Robin knew exactly when Little John was up to right now, he was.

" What is it John? Just say it already."

The man sighed, a chuckle escaping his lips, as he looked down and shook his head. "We have known each other for so long, we know exactly when something is going on with the other. Which is..." He now moved his head up again to look his friend straight in the eyes, "which is why I know that you think you have feelings for the Queen. And it is clouding your judgment, it is paralyzing you, and it needs to stop."

Robin just stared back at him at those words, mouth slightly agape, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I'm sorry, what now? I - I don't have feelings for the Queen."

"Oh come on Robin. You are insulting me by pretending not to know what I am talking about! I have been observing you these past few days, Robin, and those looks you send her when you think no one is watching...those say you definitely do have feelings for her."

It was Robin who first averted his eyes at that.

"I don't know what to do, John. This is driving me crazy, she is driving me crazy!"

"Well, it is quite simple," John answered, his voice firm and Robin found his eyes to be staring almost angrily at him, when he looked at his friend.

"Stop making yourself crazy. You are talking yourself into having feelings for her. Before you found out about that letter nothing seemed to be going on at all."

"You're wrong about that," Robin retorted, "that parchment merely opened my eyes to what had been going on for a while now. I... We... Oh you are not going to like this, but you know those afternoons I spenttogether with Roland each week?"

" Well," Robin continued when John nodded, "in fact we would spend them in the library, keeping Regina company."

Litle John's mouth fell open, "I'm sorry, what did you just say? Did you, did you just say you willingly spent time with the Evil Queen? And let your son be exposed to that sort of danger for days on end?!"

Robin frowned,"I prefer you would drop the ' evil monicker', for she is not. Bold and audacious maybe, but not evil. And she is no danger to Roland, she would never hurt him."

Little John let out a laugh in disbelieve, "do you even hear what you are saying here? My god, she has got you completely under her spell! She has bewitched you! Robin, I will call her the Evil Queen, because she IS the Evil Queen. You cannot deny that, you must not forget who she is!"

He had gone too far, Litlte John knew it the moment he saw how Robin's jaw clenched, how is eyes went cold and his posture went rigid.

"I do not wish to discuss this topic with you anymore. With whom I decide to spend my time with is my business, whether you like it or not."

And with those words, Robin walked past Little John, without looking back.

But Little John did not give up. His best friend was in danger, his best friend needed help, and he would be that help. And so he called together Robin's most trusted men that night, and explained the situation to them. They talked long about how to approach this, it turned out several of the merry men had noticed something was going on, and they were all keen on fixing this problem, and eventually they found a solution.

And so, Arthur, one of the merry men, woke Robin up the following morning, even before dawn, with the message that they had to go on a patrol through the forest, because mysterious behavior had been detected. Little John would look after Roland.

With a sigh and growl, Robin had gotten up, dressed himself, grabbed his bow and arrows, and gone out with his group of merry men. Only three men had stayed behind. And while Robin was gone, these three men had gathered their belongings, and those of Robin together with Little John, all the while making sure a sleeping Roland would not awake.

They had just packed everything, when Little John had ran into Regina. Of course he could have pretended he hadn't heard her calling, but it had appeared so much more fun to the man to see the look on the woman's face when he would tell her Robin had left, when he would tell her whatever scheme she was plotting would not work, that he had decided to go in anyways.

Still thinking back about the devastation on her face, the man explained it as frustration over the fact that her evilplan had been ruined. John was now riding on his horse,with a still sleeping Roland against him. They had been riding for half an hour now through the woods, and would soon arrive at the spot they had agreed to meet with the rest of the group.

When they finally did arrive, he found the group in quite the commotion. The men were standing in a circle, and in the middle was Arthur trying to calm a furious Robin. "What is this! Where is my son? What do you mean, we are not going back to the castle! I am the leader of this group and nothing has been discussed with me!"

"Then you should have acted like a leader," Little John spoke up, having quickly jumped off his horse, and handed over Roland to one of the men, as he made his way into the circle.

"John...what is this?" Robin asked confused, the second of relief he had felt upon seeing John, already washed away as soon as he noticed that John was part of this trap.

"You have neglected the bond of merry men, Robin. And all because of this woman, this evil wench, this witch who put a spell on you. Made you think you were in love with her, made you weak."

"Is this about that again? I told you, whomever I spent my time with is my business!" Robin growled, angrily walking up to Little John, but he did not attempt to walk past him. He knew better than that, his friend was twice his size, he would stand no chance.

"It is not just about that, Robin. We are the merry men, we live in the forest. We live a simple life, we steal from the rich and give to the poor. But instead of that life, we have been living a hypocritical life in a luxurious castle for the past weeks. The old Robin, the Robin of Locksley we knew, would have never stayed longer in such a place than absolutely necessary. The Robin we knew, would get out of that place as soon as possible. But instead we stayed. First, because we did not know what this Wicked Witch was up to, but she does not seem to pose a threat to us right now, and yet we still stayed. Because of Roland we thought, but -"

"I did stay because of Roland. This life in the woods is no life for him!" Robin interrupted Little John, but the latter just shook his head.

"Do not lie to yourself Robin, do not use your son as an excuse. Because all those afternoons in which you said you were having some father and son bonding time, all those afternoons in which you just neglected us, neglected your men, all those afternoons you spend with the Evil Queen. You betrayed us Robin, and you betrayed yourself. She bewitched you, you cannot help it. We are willing to firgve you, and that is why we are intervening now. We are taking you out that rat's nest, we are bringing you back to where we all belong."

"By tricking me? By lying to me? By deceiving me? How does that make sense? And is this how all of you think about this? Or are you just agreeing with this man here, because he is twice your size and you know you cannot defeat him if it were to end in a fight?" Robin roared, his eyes roaring with anger, as he looked around the circle.

And oh, how Robin had hoped that at least one person would choose his side, but truly no one did, not even Fryer Tuck.

"You know what, I am disgusted by all of you. Yes, we are the merry men, yes we fight against evil, and fight for what is good. But doesn't that also mean we do not judge a book by its cover? Doesn't that also mean we give everyone a fair chance? Doens't that mean we believethat every person can redeem theirselves? How many of you had a dark past before they came here? Hm? I think more than half of this group has done deeds that darkened their hearts in their pasts. And for you to call the queen evil, to speak with such venom and such malice about her, whereas not a single one of you has tried to get to know her...that disgusts me."

"You just say that because she has you under her spell, Robin!" One of the merry men called, Robin did not know who.

"He has gone crazy," another one said.

"We need to find a new leader."

"How can he betray Marian like that?"

"We need to kill the Queen."

"Enough!" That was Arthur, thank the gods, Robin thought, at least someone had some sort of common sense.

"Robin," Arthur spoke, as he walked up to the man and placed his left hand on Robin's right shoulder in a riendly manner.

"Queen or no Queen, evil or not, the fact remains, that we are the merry men, and that we live simple lives in the forest. And the fact remains, that we do not involve ourselves with royalty unless absolutely necessary. And the fact remains, as well, that we haven't heard anything at all from this Witch in weeks. And it is also true that the Ev- that the Queen has said she has it out for her, and for her alone. So in the end, our only reason to stay at the castle, the safety of Roland and the merry men, is no longer there. For the forest seems to be as safe as any other place. Maybe evne safer than the castle, for it is there where the Queen resides. So I ask you, as part of this group of merry men, and as your friend, to put all private matters aside. Because then you will see that we have overstayed our welcome at the castle, we are no longer needed there. Most of the villagers already returned to their homes, and now it is time for us to do the same. Let the royals fight their fights, and let us fight ours."

Robin and Arthur just stared at each other without moving, Arthur's hand still on his shoulder, as their silent staring match went on.

"Fine," Robin eventually growled, "but I tell you, if there is only the slightest hint of danger to any of the men, or for Roland, I do not care what you think of it, and I do not care who will be with me, but then I will return to the castle. Because you are all making a grave mistake into thinking this Witch will not be a danger to any of us. She is not called Wicked for nothing, their fight is our fight. It has become our fight the moment she entered this realm."

Arthur smiled apologetically at his friend, "that seems like a fair deal. No one will force you to stay here when your son is in danger, Robin."

Robin growled something intelligible at that, before he turned away from Arthur to face the group, purposefully turning his back at Little John.

"Now, let us pack our things and continue to travel then, we must find a new camp!" And without waiting for a response from his men, Robin turned around and walked ot the man he had noticed holding his son. He just wanted his son right now to be close to him, and that was all, Roland was all he truly needed.

These men understood nothing. Bewitched, nonsense. What an irrational fear of all of them to think he would lose his head over a woman that easily. As if it could have ever grown into anything anyways, a thief and a Queen, who had ever heard of a combination like that anyways?

Or was he just telling himself this to ease the annoying hint of pain he was feeling in his heart upon thinking he was leaving Regina without having said goodbye? A pain, that grew more severe the longer he thought about it. She had such difficulty with trusting people, and now he had been forced to leave her just like that...

**Ok in the next chapter I'll establish Enchanted forest OQ for real. I promise. It just didn't fit in this chapter, seeing as it is so long already. **

**So what did you all think? I strongly dislike the merry men :P. Robin better rush back to Regina asap, don't you think?**

**I will update again on Friday, and omg over 250 followers and all these lovely reviews you sent me motivate me so much! Thank you for the support!**

**and who else died over last Sunday's episode? I know I did :P**

**please leave a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.**

**x**

**metope**


	19. Nineteen

**Nineteen**

**Enchanted Forest**

If Little John had hoped Robin's mood would improve, now that he did not have to worry over the Evil Queen supposedly being his true love, he was sorely mistaken. If anything, his mood had gotten worse. And the fact that Roland kept asking every ten minutes why they weren't staying with _''Gina'_ anymore, did not help the matter at all.

The latter did strengthen Little John's belief that had made the right call; Roland obviously had started to see the witch much, too much, as a replacement for his mother. Evil queens weren't fit to be mothers, no matter what others said.

It had been three days since they were out on their own again, so far there hadn't been any problems at all. And that was what made Robin so incredibly moody, no problems meant no danger, and no danger meant no excuse to return to the castle.

Robin, on his part, knew very well that he wasn't the nicest person to be around lately, and he noticed by the way that his men treated him –with great care and caution – that he should really try to change his attitude. But that was easier said than done; on one hand, he didn't want to change his behavior, he was still angry with all of them. On the other, he simply _couldn't_ change, even if he wanted to; the ache in his chest prevented him from doing so.

Yet, he did want that ache to disappear, seeing as it was highly annoying. So over the past few days, he had been actively telling himself that this was for the best. After all, he was a thief, and she was a queen, that was no combination, that could not work out, could it? He would probably only have humiliated himself, if he had really pursued her at some point. This was for the best.

But as soon as he thought about them, he would shake his head, because he simply could not believe his own words. He felt it in his heart, it wasn't true. If he and Regina truly were each other's soul mates, it wouldn't matter that she was royalty and he was not, and he knew for a fact that it didn't, not to her at least. She had previously loved a stable boy, if she could love a stable boy, she surely could love him as well?

A thought that made him scold himself as well; because honestly, he had no idea whatsoever about what her feelings for him were, if she had any at all. He just assumed she had, in these inner conversations he had with himself, simply because _he_ did have feelings for _her;_ he had come as far as to be able to openly admit that to himself by now.

As Robin was completely caught up in his thoughts, he did not notice how his group of men had suddenly come to a halt, causing him to stumble into a few of them, before he noticed.

"What is going on? Why have we stopped, it isn't even dark yet?" He asked confused.

Yet none of his men answered, instead, they just stepped out of the way so Robin could see what they were seeing. Upon doing so, he automatically set a few steps back in shock, a gasp escaping his lip, as he quickly tore his eyes from the scene to see where Roland was, safe with Arthur who was shielding his eyes, before he looked back.

In front of him, was a village, or rather, the remainders of what once had been a village. Now, all that was left, were burnt skeletons of the farms that once stood there, and as the smell of the burned hay and wood reached his nose, he realized that it was mingled with the smell of something else; burnt flesh. And upon looking closer, he saw the lifeless black bodies of several people lying in the ruins.

"My god," he breathed, his eyes wide with terror, as they scanned the scene, slowly going over the burnt houses and bodies, from left to right, until they fell upon a tall figure standing in the middle of it all, clad in black, but with skin green as emerald.

"You!" He growled, as soon as he noticed who was standing there, and thus who was responsible for this massacre.

"What did you do?! You will pay for this!" He roared, and before anyone could stop him, he grabbed an arrow and drew his bow ready to shoot.

Yet, when he tried to release the arrow, he found he couldn't, and he noticed how suddenly a green hue encircled his entire body, followed by a malicious laugh coming from the Witch standing a few feet away, her hand raised as it was glowing the same color of green.

"Please," she mocked him, "did you really think a lousy arrow is all it takes to defeat me? I am insulted."

"Why did you do this?" Robin growled, choosing not to answer her meaningless words.

She raised her eyebrows, "why? Oh, it is simple. This," she made a gesture around her with her free hand, "is a warning. You didn't really think you had defeated me or that I had given up when I left the castle, now did you?" She scoffed, "the _insolence_ to think that it is safe for the villagers to return to their homes. As long as I do not have what I want, I want you to spend every waking moment worrying, not knowing what I will do, not knowing who I will kill," a wicked grin accompanied the witch's threat.

"And what is it you need?"

Maybe if they could just give her what she needed, she wouldn't kill any more innocent people.

"Oh, that is simple. Two things, really," the witch spoke, her voice high and light, as if they were discussing a casual subject, "I want Snow White's baby and my _sister's_ heart."

The word sister was hissed with such malice and venom, that Robin immediately felt sorry for said person, whomever she might be. It was clear the Witch did not have a good bond with her sister.

Initially, Robin wanted to yell that the Witch would never get Snow White's child, yet he chose against that upon realizing that that would probably infuriate her, and then he wouldn't have the chance to get more information from her. So he decided to play things differently.

"What do you need those two for? I thought your problem was with the Queen? Not with Snow White."

"Oh but it is the Queen I have a 'problem' with, you silly thief. The child is just collateral damage, it is an ingredient that I need. Just like the heart."

Robin was having the hardest time keeping his face impassive upon those words. It was only now that he fully realized who he was talking to, it was only now that he understood why people called her wicked. Calling the kidnapping, and probably killing of a child, collateral damage...that truly was wicked. Yet he forced himself into staying focused, he still had her attention, which meant he still had a chance - and it would probably be their only chance - to find out more about the witch' s motives.

"And the heart...it is your sister's you say? We might be able to bring that to you..."

He let his voice trail off, to see what the witch's reaction would be. When the woman tilted her head slightly to the side, and raised an eyebrow indicating she was listening he continued.

"For a price of course. You would refrain from killing anymore innocent villagers, in exchange for us giving you the heart."

The witch let out an amused chuckle, "you're quite the negotiator, aren't you? If I wouldn't have the Dark One locked up in my castle, I would _almost_ think I was talking to him right now."

It was meant to remind him of who he was talking to, it was meant to remind him exactly of how powerful she was, she had the Dark One in her power. But he did not budge.

"The heart for the safety of all the villagers in this realm."

She just laughed, "something tells me you have _no_ idea who my sister is. If you did, I am sure you would not propose this deal to me."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because if you did, you would know there is no chance in hell that you could get that heart for me."

Robin shook his head, " I stole from the Dark One, and lived to tell the story, I think you are underestimating _me_."

"No, _you_, are underestimating _me_, you filthy thief," the queen snapped at him, "you see, my sister is no one less than the feared, and supposedly almighty _Evil_ _Queen_."

Her grin grew wider with every shade that his face grew paler.

"Regina, is your sister?" He stammered.

"That is right," the Witch grinned, "she is my little sister. Surely you understand now that I will not make that deal with you, for there is no chance in this realm, or the next, that you will be able to get her heart. My sister is powerful, I will give her that. Of course not nearly as powerful as I am, but powerful enough to defend herself against a thief who managed to steal from the Dark One."

Then she just stood there, grinning at the man in front of her, who was just staring back at her, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape, as he tried to process the information he had just heard.

"Well, by your reaction I gather she indeed did not tell you who we are to each other. And I take it the deal is off, then?"

When he did not reply, she let out a dramatic sigh, " well, I guess I will just have to do it myself then. You can tell my sister that unless she meets me at the gate of the castle, with her heart on a silver platter, at sundown three days from now, more innocent villagers will unfortunately follow the same destiny as these people did today. Do you think you can do that for me?" He voice was bittersweet, as if she were talking to a child.

That seemed to wake him up from his dazed state.

"You will do no such thing!" He growled, "I won't let you! We won't let you! We _will_ defeat you, you green _monster_!"

Wrong thing to say; very much, the wrong thing to say.

"Enough!" The Witch cried out, her up until then stoic face suddenly contorted in anger, her blue eyes piercing into his, "what makes you think you can defeat me!? What makes you think I am less of a threat than my sister?! Why does everyone _always_ choose _her_ over _me?_! I am the _Wicked_ Witch, and you will do what I say!"

Robin both wanted to laugh at the ridiculous tantrum the witch was suddenly throwing, and get the hell out of here before things would escalate. Unfortunately it was too late for that, and the next thing he heard was a frightened cry coming from behind him, and with immense terror he saw his son magically flying over his head, until the poor boy was hovering in front of the Witch.

"Papa!" Roland cried out, and Robin's heart clenched upon seeing the fear on his son's face. He growled when he tried to move, but found himself still magically frozen to the forest floor.

"Let me put it differently, thief," the Witch snarled, "you will bring this message to my sister, and you _will_ get her to see me three days from now. Or my monkeys will find your son, and then you won't have to be a father anymore, _ever_ again, for you will have no son anymore!"

And with that the Witch disappeared in a puff of green smoke, releasing the spell she had cast on Robin and his men, and rudely dropping Roland to the ground just like that.

The boy yelped out in pain, as soon as he hit the ground, but his father was already with him before the first tear could reach his cheek.

"Roland, Roland! Papa is here, are you hurt? Where are you hurt?" Robin asked, each question quickly following the last, as he crouched down next to his son, one hand stroking through Roland's short brown curls.

But Roland shook his head, as he pushed himself on his knees, before falling into his father's embrace.

"Just my knee, Papa," he sniffed, leaning more against his father, so he could pull his knee out, which showed a fresh bruise.

Letting out a sigh of relief upon seeing the minor bruise, Robin pulled Roland tighter against him.

"You sure, Roland?"

When the boy nodded, Robin smiled and pressed a kiss to his son's head, "you were really brave, Roland," He praised the boy, before taking him in his arms and getting up from the forest floor.

Upon walking back to the rest of the group, Arthur and Little John immediately came rushing forward

. "Is he alright?" They both asked in unison.

"Yes, thank you for asking, Arthur," Robin nodded, before walking past both of them towards his horse, leaving the two men behind.

"He will come around, don't worry," Arthur tried to reassure Little John, Robin had been ignoring him for the past three days.

"Yes,, well, until that time it has to be you who keeps an eye on him. He is going to want to go back to the castle now. You have to prevent him from doing so," Little John growled, which earned him a sympathetic smile from Arthur.

"Don't worry. I will protect him."

Little John nodded, glad that at least someone else appeared to be on his side. The rest of the merry men had all been a bit ambivalent towards the matter after Robin had gotten so mad.

Hence, the man's surprise when not much later, two horses were ready, one for Robin and Roland, and one for Arthur.

"Wh-Where are they going?"

"Why, to the castle of course. We will follow, but at our own pace. They will reach the castle in a day and a half if they leave now," Alan, one of the merry men said.

"And what about Roland? Wouldn't it be better for him to travel with us then?"

Alan shrugged, eyes averting as he mumbled, "well, normally you would take care of Roland. But after what happened..."

Little John nodded, "I see," he spoke through gritted teeth, before he marched away.

..

"I don't understand what happened," Snow sighed, as she sat down at the dining table for lunch, "she seemed to get better over the past two weeks."

"I think it was the boy, Roland. She spent more and more time with him,"Tinkerbell said as she took a bite.

Snow nodded thoughtfully at that, "it distracted her...from Henry I mean. Taking care of another child, who needs her, gave her something to do, it filled a bit of the void that was left behind. And now that they left.."

"She is back to her old bitchy self," Tinkerbell sighed with a nod.

Regina had been insufferable the past few days; it had already started a week ago, when Robin and Roland were still here, no one had an idea of what was going on, but suddenly she had been absentminded, and crankier than she had been in days. And after Robin and his merry men had left, it had gotten much worse. She was practically back to the state she had been in, right after the curse had been cast.

It saddened Snow greatly to notice this, Regina might not have known it, but due to her slightly more cooperative attitude lately, people had ever so slowly started to warm up to her a little. And with people she essentially meant Belle, Ruby and Granny. The former citizens of Storybrooke, were still as mistrusting towards her as they ever were.

A mistrust that was now once more confirmed as being right, judging by Regina's new hostile attitude. '_Luckily'_ for them, Regina would lock herself up in her library, to do research on the Witch for the larger part of each day, the Witch that no one had heard anything of in ages.

However, even thinking such a thing, apparently jinxed the matter, as just then the large doors of the dining hall slammed open, and Robin Hood, with his son in his arms marched in with large strides, followed by the merry man Snow recognized as Arthur.

"Where is Regina?!" The man shouted through the hall, his eyes angry under a deep frown and his lips a thin line.

Quickly, Snow got up from her seat, and walked up to the two men, followed by Tinkerbell. "Robin! You returned, what happened?"

"We had an encounter with the Witch. I need to speak to Regina immediately," was all Robin said in a clipped voice.

"Why? What happened?" Snow asked worriedly, "are all of you alright? Where are the rest of your men?"

Robin shook his head, "first, I want to talk to Regina, Arthur will fill you in. Now where is she?"

"In the library. We will take care of your son," Tinkerbell now spoke up, taking Roland from him.

"I scraped my knee," The boy pouted.

Tinkerbell gasped, "oh, dear, I see. Well, we should take a look at that when we sit down, don't you think?" She smiled when the boy nodded.

"I, uhm – he needs some food,, and a bed to sleep in. We traveled non-stop for more than a day," Robin said to the women, as he was already walking backwards towards the doors that led to the hallway.

"We will take care of him," Snow reassured him.

..

"Regina!"

The book fell from her hands on the floor, as she jumped at the sudden voice calling her name. She knew that voice. Slipping on a unimpressed mask, she turned around, an eyebrow arched, as her chocolate eyes indeed took in no one less but the outlaw standing in front of her.

"Oh, look who has returned. The forest floor was no match of the bed you got to sleep in here after all?"

"Regina, I -"

She held up a hand to stop him from speaking, "I don't want to hear it, thief. If you find it to be unnecessary to say goodbye to me, when you leave all of the sudden, then I do not need to hear a word from you upon your equally sudden return either."

"Regina, I didn't mean to -"

"Oh, you didn't mean to leave without a word? So what? It was an accident? Your legs just walked you into a different direction than you wanted to go? Because if that is so, you should have that checked out, Robin, that doesn't sound alright!" She mocked him, her eyes darkening, and the corners of her mouth pulled up ever so slightly, as she watched how Robin was slowly getting worked up.

"Okay. Look, I am not going to do this right now. There are –"

"Well good, because I am not going to either."

"Would you JUST LET ME FINISH SPEAKIN?! Damn it, Regina!"

A snort escaped her lips upon his sudden outburst, "calm down, dear. You don't have to get upset."

"YES I _DO_! I do have to get upset! Because I am trying to get your attention here! I came to apologize, yes, but more importantly, I came here to discuss the Witch with you, because we had a run in with her, and she gave me a message! So if you could just shut your damn mouth, for just a second, so that I can say what I have to say, that would be wonderful!"

He expected her to lash out at that, he expected that he had gone too far, that he had crossed the line by speaking to her like that. But she merely arched an eyebrow, the fact that he had news about the Witch, was apparently the leverage that made her stay quiet.

"Well, go on then. What did she tell you?"

"She is after your heart, and Snow's unborn child. They are ingredients for something," he blurted out at once.

Had he thought he was good at pissing her off, this Witch surely did that job ten times better.

"Over my dead _body,_" she growled, at which he let out a nervous snort.

"Which will probably happen, if she succeeds, seeing as she wants your heart."

It earned him a death glare, and a sharp 'You can live on with your heart outside your chest. And that is not something to make jokes about, you _fool,'_ as she placed her hands on her hips, turned around and walked a few steps away from him, as she tried to think. Her long dark purple skirt rustling as she moved. She wore a rather daring dress today, with a low cut corset decorated with jewels.

Robin had been rather glad, when Regina seemed to have changed into slightly less revealing dresses in the weeks prior to his departure – made it slightly easier not to stare at her – but now she seemed to have gone back to the intimidating gowns she had worn when he had met her the first time. The whole ensemble was finished by dark make-up, and an extravagant up-do.

"Did she say anything else?" Her demanding voice pulled him back to reality, and he nodded. She had turned around to face him again, hands still on her hips, and dark eyes staring from under an angry frown at him.

"She - she also said that she was your _sister_."

Regina scowled, "oh, that."

And just like that, just when he had calmed down a bit, he felt his anger flare up again. "What do you mean, 'oh, that'?" He asked through gritted teeth, "you mean, you already knew about this?!"

She shrugged, and for the first time she averted her gaze, something that should have told him she was way less comfortable discussing the matter than she seemed to be, but he did not notice.

"That is what she told me, yes."

"And you did not think it important to share that information with us?"

Regina shrugged once more, as she turned around, so she wouldn't have to look at him, but could still stare ahead. Her hands now moved from her hips, to around her middle. Everything in her body language screamed that she didn't feel comfortable discussing this, but Robin was just too furious with her in that moment to see it.

"Well?" He almost yelled at her.

"Well," Regina sighed, her voice still sounding cocky, yet it cost her much more effort to make it sound like that, "I do not believe her of course. I never met that green bean, and I was an only child. She is lying."

Robin growled at that in frustration, "of course she isn't lying! She _must_ be your sister, Regina. It all makes sense!"

At that, she turned back to face him, a mocking smirk on her face, "Oh does it now? Do tell me, how the _simple_ _thief_ got to that conclusion, dear."

Choosing to ignore the insult, Robin did what she asked.

"It is why all the doors to your castle were open, when we came here the first time. You said you had sealed them with blood magic, that nothing is more powerful than blood magic. But if she were your _sister_, then she would be able to open those doors, and unlock those locks! Because she is your sister!"

"No!" Regina suddenly exclaimed furiously, the stoic mask that she had held into place up until then, finally slipping away, showing the anger and frustration swirling in her eyes.

"She is NOT my sister! My mother did NOT lie to me about this too!"

"Oh come on Regina! Stop behaving like a child, and just admit what is right in front of you! She is your sister!"

"No," Regina growled, folding her arms, and almost stomping her foot, looking very much like an angry child in that moment.

"Say it."

"No."

'Regina.." He said in a warning voice.

"Robin.." She imitated his tone of voice with her own. It would have made him laugh. if the matter as a whole hadn't been so serious.

He shook his head, going for a new approach, "_fine_. Be a coward then. I would have expected more from the Evil Queen."

That did it.

"_Fine_! She is my sister! My mother lied to me about yet another life altering thing, by keeping from me that I have a sister. I. Have. A. _green_ skinned sister! Are you happy now!?" She exclaimed her arms had unfolded, as she ranted and were now alongside her body, her hands curled up into fists. And here eyes were oh so dark with anger, and held back frustration.

"No, of course I am not happy, Regina!" Robin yelled back at her, which caused Regina to let out a cry of frustration.

"Then what!? You annoy the hell out of me, by demanding I admit that green bean is my sister. Well I said it, so what is there to be upset about now!?"

Robin shook his head, as he raised his hand to press against his temple. She really did not get it.

"Regina, there is an evil sorceress out there. Someone so powerful, and _so_ _evil,_ they call her the _Wicked_ Witch. Who just slaughtered an entire village, just as a warning sign, who is after an innocent child and your heart. Who wants to destroy you, and on top of that she is your sister!"

"Yes, yes, yes. I am not stupid, we already established all of that. So what?" Regina asked impatiently.

"Don't you get it Regina?!"

"Well, sorry but I'm not trained in 'thief-thinking', so I have to disappoint you, but no, I do not get it, at _all_!"

"She is your SISTER, Regina! She is your SISTER, and she wants to KILL you. She is your family, and she wants your _death_! That piece of information makes her so much more dangerous. That piece of information proves that you are in so much more danger than we thought!"

_That_ she had not expected from him to yell at her. What was she supposed to say to that? Yes, it was worrying that this witch was her sister, and was set on killing her, nonetheless. Yes, it was very worrying the motive was jealousy. But why did he care?

"So? Why do you care?" She voiceded her thoughts, her voice suddenly much softer, yet also much more void of any kind of emotions again. And that was something Robin did notice. So instead of yelling at her straight away, he tried his very best to take back control over his voice.

"Why do I care? How can you even ask that, Regina? Of course, I care!"

She huffed, "Well, you shouldn't have come back then. The further away from me you are, the safer."

"That is not what this is about, Regina. You know that!"

"Oh do I now?" And back was the fire in her voice, as she set a few steps in his direction. "Because honestly Robin, the only thing I know right now, is that you are the most infuriating man I've ever met! Why can't you just leave me alone?! You haven't left me alone for longer than two seconds ever since we met! WHY can't you just leave me be?!"

Robin let out a laugh of disbelief, and it cost him the greatest effort to not completely lose his temper.

"Regina, " he started, his voice dangerously low, "how, _how_ is it that you manage to turn everything around? _Everything_ I try to do for you, _every_ time I try to compliment you, _every_ time I try to do good by you, you manage to turn it around, and make it into something bad. You make sure that you crawl under my skin in mere seconds, you make me regret every action. When all I want to do is to _help_ you!?"

"BUT _WHY_!?" She cried out, her voice now breaking on the words, as she set yet another step closer to him.

"Because I _CARE_ ABOUT YOU, DAMN IT!" Robin yelled back at her, his voice equally loud. "You drive me _crazy_! I _hate_ you, you crawl under my skin like no one else can. You infuriate me, you annoy me. You point out every flaw I have that you can find. You mock me, you insult me. But you are also the most _stunning_ woman I have _ever_ seen. And you have a _beautiful_ smile when you choose to show it, and you are caring, and loving, and a great mother, and you are great with Roland, and you are smart, and you are sassy, and you are funny. And I want to kill you, as much as I want to kiss you, because as much as you drive me crazy with anger, I care about you as well. Very much. And I do not want to have to watch you get killed by this Witch. _THAT_ is why I care! _Do_ you understand!?"

She was staring dumbfounded at him, her eyes wide, shock swirling in her chocolate brown eyes, her lips apart, mouth slightly agape, her chest was heaving with labored breaths, and her whole body seemed completely frozen. And then, as if something clicked she swallowed, and her mouth closed, and her body relaxed again, and the shock disappeared from her eyes, and her eyes grew cold again.

"Don't tell me such lies, thief. I thought you were better than that," she spoke in a composed, low voice.

"I am not lying to you, Regina. For God's sake, can't you just take my word for _once_?"

She scoffed, "no, I cannot. And I can't believe you either."

And with that she turned away from him.

"But why? Why is it so hard to believe that someone cares about you Regina? You are _not_ a monster, _stop_ with the self pity already. Snow cares about you, Tinkerbell cares about you, Roland cares. And I do too. Why can't you just accept that?!"

As if bitten by a snake, she whirled around, her eyes wide and a mix between anger and hurt

. "Because if you _really_ cared about me, you wouldn't have _left_ me just like that! You didn't even say you were thinking of leaving! I trusted you! I told you things about my life that I never tell anyone, because I thought you got it, because I thought that you were different, that you could understand. But you _left_ me! Like everyone else, I don't even know why I thought this time would be different. YOU. LEFT. M -"

Her words were muffled when Robin suddenly reached forward, roughly pulling her towards him, as his hands went up to either side of her face, before he crashed his mouth on hers. The yelp that escaped her throat, was swallowed by him as her hands flew up to her sides, in an attempt to move away from him. Yet he did not budge, he set a step forward without breaking contact with every step she set backwards until her back met the bookshelves.

She tried to fight him, she really did. But the longer she felt his lips on hers, the harder it was to resist him, until finally her lips softened under his. He only broke the kiss just then to breathe, before crashing his lips back on hers.

He kissed her hard, and rough, his tongue parting her lips, and darting into her mouth, while he pulled her even closer against his hard body, and kissed her hungrily. As a moan emerged from deep within her throat, their kiss slowly grew more passionate, softer. And she slowly moved her arms, from where they had previously been pressed against the bookcase, to the back of his neck. Pulling him more into her with her left hand, as her right started to comb through his hair.

His own left hand had moved to the small of her back by now, while his right was still on the side of her face, his thumb softly caressing her skin. But as their tongues mingled, that hand too started to slide down, from her cheek to her neck, over her collarbone...lower and lower...then over her corset-clad breast, back up again, and then...a gasp left her lips, and she broke the kiss in a startled move, when she felt his hand slip under her corset.

He quickly pulled his hand back upon her reactio,n and upon realizing what was happening he set a step back, releasing her from his hold, as she too pulled her arms away from him.

"Regina, I -" He started, still slightly out of breath but Regina silenced him with a 'no' that sounded much higher than her usual tone of voice, and her hand held up in the air.

"I need...I need you to leave now," she breathed, her eyes staring wildly at him. He couldn't find anger in them though, nor fear or hurt, just...surprise.

"Of course," Robin nodded as he set a few steps back, "I'm sorry. I, I shouldn't have..."

"No, no it is...I...you- you don't need to apologize," she interrupted him again, and he noticed how her already red cheeks, reddened even a little more at her words.

"I just...I just need to think, now. And I think you do too," she explained.

Robin merely nodded at that, he himself was too confused about what had just happened as well.

"I...I will see you around?" He tried, it was a completely useless thing to say. But it was something, and she humored him by not commenting on it.

"I think so, yes," she smiled softly holding his gaze as he continued to walk backwards. She had wanted to tell him the table was there, she really did, but she just couldn't find the words to do so. So instead, a chuckle escaped her and she raised her hand to cover her mouth, when his back suddenly collided with the piece of furniture, and he nearly fell to the floor because of it.

Getting back on his feet, with his face two shades redder, he sent her a last smile, an oh so dashing smile, before he turned around and left the library.

And it was only then that Regina dared to fully release the breath she had been holding, as she let herself fall back against the bookcase.

So, she thought to herself, there were two options: Freaking out or...yeah, what was the other option even?

**Well there you go! O my god you guys this week was so crazy, but I had promised to update today so I worked my butt of this afternoon to get this chapter here it is! I wanted to add Storybrooke too, but there wasn't time for that. It was no update or no storybrooke xD.**

**So...let me know what you guys thought of this chapter! I am very curious! And I say: let the outlawqueen begin B|.**

**x**  
**Metope**


	20. Twenty

**A/N: omg you guys over 300 followers! I never got so many followers (and favs for that matter) on a story, thank you so much!**

**Twenty**

**Enchanted Forest – past – somewhere after Robin's departure and before his return :-)**

The sheriff of Nottingham had spent several weeks in prison, in the dungeon of the castle. Escaping had been impossible, there had been one of that bandit's men guarding his door every day and night. And then, suddenly, just like that, there wasn't.

Now, the sheriff had always truly done his best to reign in any criminal activity– when he still was a feared and, he liked to think, respected man before the curse– albeit with rather unconventional, and sometimes brutal methods. But that also meant he had picked up the necessary knowledge about these criminal activities over the years. For example, how to pick a lock, or how to break out of prison, or how to escape from a building, no matter how crowded, unseen.

And so it happened, that, within thirty minutes, the sheriff was walking freely into the forest with a big triumphant smile on his face. Now, what would he do next?

**Storybrooke – Present  
**_**Some parts are taken from the episodes, but I do encourage you to read it all, as I altered the storyline quite a lot.**_

He had seen a glimpse of the Evil Queen today, now he knew why people could fear her, she could be truly terrifying, if she chose to be.

Zelena's cover was blown, they knew who she was now, they even knew Rumpelstiltskin was still alive, so there was no need for her to stay out of sight anymore. Unfortunately for him, that meant that he had become of greater use to Zelena, now that he was her only 'secret weapon' left.

She had barged into the diner after Neal's funeral, completely and disrespectfully mocking everyone there. Regina's temper of course flared up right away, and she spoke up immediately, demanding to know what the Witch's plans were. Something Robin wanted to know himself as well. Her answer, however, shocked him.

Apparently, Zelena and Regina were related, they were _sisters_ no less. Something he, nor anyone in the diner, Regina included, knew. However, although Robin could see the doubt and hesitation in the brunette's eyes, she tried to shield it very well as she got in the Witch's face, ready for a verbal sparring match. One that resulted in the Witch daring Regina to face her at sundown for a showdown.

Of course everyone immediately went to Regina after Zelena had left, and it irritated Robin that, even though Regina had done nothing but help over the past few days, all of them now warily asked if she really did not know the Witch was her sister. Hadn't they seen the look on her face when Zelena had revealed the news? Didn't they see the uncomfortable and hurt look in her eyes right now? She tried to hide it with snarky comments, yet it was still visible, at least, it was to him. He couldn't be fooled.

He had followed her and David, when they had left the diner, to go to Regina's family mausoleum. Initially, Snow had wanted to go with her, but in the end she had decided to stay with their son Luke.

It wasn't easy on David and Snow, Luke may be their second child, but seeing as they never got the chance to raise Emma, the curse practically bombarded them to be fresh parents, without having any experience whatsoever.

On top of that, they knew nothing about this child. Not his name, not his birthday. They had decided to call the boy Luke, because the boy did need a name, memory loss or not, and Snow said she had always wanted to call a possible son Luke, and she hoped she had stuck with that desire when naming her boy.

Robin knew it was tough on them, but he also saw they did truly love their son. It was an instinctual thing, he guessed, that no curse could remove. Yet, he also saw that Snow did feel guilty about not remembering her son, he had had a talk about that with David. It was an irrational feeling, of course, and Snow knew that just as well, but it was simply a typical thing that mother's did; worrying about their children. And so, Snow decided to stay behind with little Luke that day.

Thus, to Regina's great annoyance, it was David who went with her. It annoyed Robin a great deal as well. David was much more on edge, and checked more often if they weren't being followed than Snow would have done. And that made his work a lot harder.

Zelena had told him to keep track of everything that Regina did, to follow her wherever she went. Something he did not mind too much, for it allowed him to keep an eye on her, see if she was safe. He waited outside when they went into the mausoleum, and decided to wait for them to come back.

It didn't take that long before the door to the building opened once again. It was Regina who left, alone, and obviously upset. He didn't wait for David to return as well, instead going after Regina.

He found her in the woods, sitting on a fallen tree trunk, intently staring at a piece of paper in her hand. Judging by the time they were sitting there like that, Regina on the fallen tree trunk, back straight, head bowed, a pained frown on her face; and he himself hiding behind some bushes; he was fairly sure she must have read the letter ten times already.

Things changed when his right leg started to hurt from sitting in the same position all the time. While in the process of changing his position, a twig cracked underneath his left food, causing Regina's head to snap up, and turn to the left, looking right at him.

"We...have _got_ to stop meeting like this," he blurted out, as he got up from his hiding spot, and walked up to her, sitting down on the tree trunk next to her, but facing the other side.

It gave her the time to quickly fold the piece of paper and stick it into her pocket, unfortunately for her, he was much too curious about what was in that letter, and without her noticing, he picked it out of her pocket.

"Did the Charmings send you to give me a pep talk? 'Cause I don't do well with pep talks."

He shook his head, "no, nothing of the sort. I decided to patrol the woods after Zelena's threat, that is all. Checking if she isn't recruiting new members for her simian army. So, how are you holding up?"

She shrugged, not looking at him while she spoke.

"I'm not a flying monkey, if that's what you mean."

He chuckled, "care to tell me what's in that letter you've been staring at for ages now?"

She swallowed, and gave a short shake with her head, "I don't know what you are talking about. There's no letter."

"Really? Then what is this?" He asked, holding up the folded piece of paper in front of her. She gasped.

"How...?" She muttered, her hand travelling to the pocket of her coat, only to indeed find it empty.

He smirked at her, "pick pocketing is an essential skill for a thief. A skill that I, the prince of thieves, have mastered, naturally."

She scoffed at that, "I thought that's what they called Aladdin, not you. You're lucky I'm saving my strength for the Witch."

He frowned at that, "what do you mean? Aladdin? Who is that?"

She smiled as she looked down at her hands, "nothing. No one you'd know."

"Alright. Then, tell me. What's in this letter that got you so upset?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"I think deep down, you would like someone to talk to about it," he spoke, sending her his most uplifting smile, something that annoyed her. Which he, on his turn, enjoyed. It was fun to tease her a little, every now and then.

She huffed, "and what makes you think you know me so well?"

He shrugged, "well, for one thing, I'd be charred to a crisp by now if you didn't."

She nodded thoughtfully at that, "true.."

"So, can I read it then?"

She shrugged, stubbornly not looking at him, "I'm not stopping you."

He nodded at her in response, and started to unfold the piece of paper.

_"Cora, dear_," he read out loud, "_I finally got my hands on your firstborn. Never thought I'd find her, did you? Now I know why. She's the most powerful sorceress I've ever encountered, even more powerful than you...Stunning in every way_."

He looked up at her as he folded the letter again, " rather complimentary, I'd say.  
Why is this troubling you?"

Upon his question, Regina let out a deep sigh, as she looked back at her hands, that were resting in her lap. It visibly cost her a lot of willpower to keep it together in that moment.

"I've seen that letter a hundred times before. In my darkest moments, I'd go to it for comfort, for solace, for a boost when I needed it, because I...because I always thought it was about me," she let out a shuddered breath, "but it's about _Zelena_. Rumplestiltskin thinks she's more powerful than I am."

Robin frowned, she was obviously completely devastated upon finding this out. But why?

"Why care what that imp thinks?" He voiced his thoughts.

At that, she finally looked at him, and he was taken aback by the lost look in her eyes.

"Because if the man who taught me _everything_ I know about magic, thinks she is stronger than I am, then there is _no_ way I can win this fight."

He couldn't stand the look on her face, that lost look, those eyes filled with tears she refused to let fall. And on an impulse, he grabbed her left hand, that was still loosely lying in her lap, with his; running his thumb over the back of her hand in a comforting motion.

"Nonsense. You'll find a way. I am sure of it. Power is not everything, you need more to win a fight."

A mix between a sigh and a sob escaped Regina's lips, and although he felt her tense the moment he touched her, and although her eyes were fixated on their joined hands, she did not pull back.

"But how?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Well, for starters. Do you have an idea what she is up to? Why she would want to fight you?"

Regina shrugged, "initially, I thought she just wanted to kill me. But after the incident with David, I'm not so sure about that anymore."

A few days prior, David had suddenly had a creature following him around through Storybrooke. Upon facing the creature, it turned out to be a version of David himself, that confronted him with his biggest fears. Upon slaying the creature, David's sword had broken, and a piece of it had disappeared. Regina had immediately known it had been Zelena's work. Upon slaying the creature, part of David's courage had gone into the sword, and it became a token of his courage. Zelena now had that piece of the sword, there was no doubt about that, so she now had David's courage.

"Then what _does _she want to do to you?" Robin asked, "she has been Rumpelstiltskin's apprentice, just like you were. Assuming he taught you in the same way, would that help you find out how she wants to 'destroy you'?" He said, making quotation marks in the air.

At that, Regina's head suddenly whipped up, and she pulled her hand out of his, and looked at him with wide eyes.

"I know.." she breathed, and before he fully knew what was going on, he saw, to his great terror, how she plunged her hand inside her chest, and pulled.

"Regina! What are you doing!?" He exclaimed, shocked, as a pained groan escaped her mouth.

It wasn't really a question. Robin knew what she was doing, she was ripping her heart out of her chest. However, as Regina made the pulling motion, he did not see her hand retreat with a beating organ in her hand, like he expected to happen. Instead, Regina's whole body moved forward as if the heart did not let loose. He saw her pull again, a pained grimace on her face, yet the heart did not appear.

After two short pulls, she finally let go and pulled out an empty hand, as she let out a frustrated huff, "I don't understand!"

"Well, that makes two of us!" Robin exclaimed indignantly, "what the hell were you thinking? You can't just rip your heart out like that!"

"Oh shut up," she bit, as she shook her head with irritation, "it was how I was going to beat Zelena," she explained, "she doesn't want to _kill_ me. She just wants my heart; like she wanted Charming's courage. They are ingredients."

"Ingredients for what?"

"How am I supposed to know? Nothing that Witch does makes sense. The only thing that does, is that she will try to take my heart, so if it wouldn't be in my chest..."

"...she won't be able to take it," Robin finished her sentence, finally understanding, "but that is a ridiculous idea, Regina! So you keep your heart outside your body, then what? Where would you put it?"

At that, she looked at him, and her face softened, some of the frustration after her failed attempt of ripping her heart out leaving her face.

"I was hoping you would want to keep it safe for me."

He let out a laugh in disbelieve at that, "Oh no, no, no. Were you really going to ask a _thief_ to keep your heart?"

She shrugged, a soft smile on her face, and winked, "you can't steal what has been given to you, now can you?" He frowned at that, was he imagining things, or was she flirting with him?

"But it doesn't matter now. Because for some reason I can't take my own heart," she growled, the frustration back in place on her face just like that.

"But – if _you_ can't rip out your _own_ heart, then maybe Zelena won't be able to do so either?" He tried carefully, and Regina let out a disheartened chuckle.

"Well, that is all we can hope for now, can we?"

Robin sighed, and for a moment they just sat there, as the thief tried to process what had just happened.

She would have offered him her heart, she would have given her heart to him just like that, she trusted him that much. And if she had, would he have accepted it? He knew the answer to that.

How could he say no to that face? How could he say no to that low, warm pleading voice? To those warm, soft, chocolate pleading eyes? To that soft smile? He simply couldn't, no matter how unfortunate this was. He wanted to scream at her, that she shouldn't trust him, that he was working for Zelena - albeit against his will, albeit because he didn't have another choice- but he couldn't; he didn't want to lose this bond they were forming. So yes, he would have accepted the heart, had she been able to give it to him

"For what it's worth," he therefore said, eyes cast to the forest floor, "I would have protected your heart…if you would have been able to get it out of your chest, that is….I would have protected it."

He didn't look up to see her reaction, and was, therefore, all the more surprised, when it now was her hand that slipped into his.

"Thank you, Robin," he heard her say, and when he looked up, he saw she was smiling softly at him.

He smiled back, and for a few moments, that was all they did. Sit like that, his hand in hers, as they stared at each other, smiling. And then, some bird decided to fly away with an unnecessary amount of noise. And it ruined the moment – whatever moment it had been – and as Regina looked away, she noticed how the sun was starting to disappear behind the trees, "I should be going."

He nodded at that, "I will come with you."

"Shouldn't you stay with your son?"

He shrugged, "he is safe with Arthur, one of my merry men."

'Whereas you are not safe at all, and I want to keep the people I care about safe,' he added to himself.

But she shook her head, "no, it will be dangerous Robin. Zelena said she wants to fight with me, but that doesn't mean there won't be collateral damage. You are a father, you are the only parent Roland has left. I want you to stay here."

"But –" He objected, and he tried to set a step in her direction, yet found himself glued to the ground with a flick of her wrist. Damned magic.

"I will be back when it is over," she promised as she started to walk away.

"Regina!"He called after her, and he thought she wouldn't turn around, he thought she would ignore him, but then she stopped, and she did turn.

"Be careful..." He said, and she looked at him with an arched eyebrow, and the resemblance of a smile on her lips.

"I am going to have a street fight with a powerful witch, I don't think being careful is a luxury I have."

He chuckled, he knew how ridiculous his words had sounded, yet he had said them anyways.

"I know, but try to be anyways, will you?"

She smiled softly at him, "alright."

And with that she turned around, and left.

**Ok. So I know, there is no Enchanted Forest part here that continues where the last chapter left off. That is because I am struggling with a few parts in that part of the storyline, and I haven't figured it out yet.**

**In the meantime you all have noticed how I started to change things in the SB storyline even more. I did not like the Regina-without-a-heart develops a relationship with Robin storyline, that much, so I altered things. In the upcoming episodes you will of course find out why Regina couldn't take her own heart, if Zelena can't either, and you will find out more about Zelena's motives in general!**

**Please leave a review !**

**x**

**Metope**


	21. Twenty-One

**A/N: **_**Ok. So everyone died after the season finale and I can tell you already, I will not include Marian in this story in the shitty way the show did. She will be in here, because the whole Marian thing is something that I find interesting to explore, but not in the impossible way the writers of OUAT did, because what they did with it was just stupid. End of rant .**_

**Twenty-one**

**Storybrooke**

The thief hadn't come to update her on what Regina was up to, she was losing her power over him, these cursed versions of her sister and the thief clearly let themselves fall for each other, a lot sooner than they had in the Enchanted Forest.

Well, it didn't matter, after tonight, she wouldn't need the bandit anyways. After tonight, she would only have to wait for Rumple to spin enough gold, and then she would be able to finally cast her curse.

With an evil smirk, she turned to look at the broken sword in her bag, _courage_, and then to a small crib that was standing at the other side of the room. Her face softened as she walked over to the crib, and looked at the sleeping infant that was in it.

"My sweet Anna," she whispered to the girl, as she gently pulled a blanket over the sleeping child, "my curse won't hurt you," she continued, almost cooing to the child, "it will need you for only a second, and then it will be over, and we will be together again, and we will live the life we deserve. And no matter what my changes in time will cause, I will make sure it won't harm you. You see, it is _my_ curse, so _I_ get to decide what it changes and what not. And you, my dearest child, you…. it won't harm. You will stay with me, and mommy will make sure you will want for nothing, that you will have _everything_ you can ever want. That you will have _everything_ you deserve."

And she let out a content chuckle, as she watched the infant continue to sleep, lying on her back, one hand raised to lie next to her head, her tiny hand curled into a fist, dark eyelashes gracing her closed eyes, and her tiny lips slightly apart to let out soft breaths.

"Well then," Zelena spoke once more, turning around to face her most loyal monkey, "it is time for me to face my sister. Watch her, she shouldn't wake up, if she does, give her the monkey toy, that will keep her content," she commanded the monkey, before leaving the house, not waiting for a response, her monkeys always did what she told them to do, there was no need to wait.

..

She's late, she had stopped by her mansion for a change of clothes, and it had taken a bit longer than she had expected, as she had found herself procrastinating like no other. She didn't like to admit it, but she truly dreaded this showdown, had done everything to postpone the moment of leaving the house. However, then she had thought back to her conversation with Robin that afternoon in the forest, and it had made her smile, and given her some weird sort of boost of confidence. Even now, as she thought about it, while walking as fast as she could to get to the clock tower, a smile appeared on her face, as she thought of Robin.

However, it disappeared as soon as she saw the group of people that had already gathered at the crossroads, and the way in which Emma was flung back by Zelena right in that moment.

"Didn't anyone tell you black is _my_ color?" She snarled, plastering an evil smirk on her face, when she saw Zelena whirl around.

"But it look _so_ much better on me," the Witch countered, patiently waiting for her sister to walk up to her, so they were face to face.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up."

Regina shook her head, "I couldn't let my sister off that easily, now could I?"

Zelena raised her eyebrow in mock surprise," oh, so you've finally accepted me into the family?"

"I've accepted we shared a mother, yes," Regina scorned, as she moved her face closer to her sister's, "but I still have one question...What the _hell_ did I _ever_ do to you?"

Zelena chuckled, "isn't that obvious?"

And then her voice dropped, as she viciously snarled, "you were _born_"

Her tone of voice; the pure hatred in those ridiculously bright blue eyes; and the arrogance to even dare say such things to _her_, the queen, made Regina see red. And before she knew it, she had raised her hand and slapped the Witch across her face. A satisfied grin gracing her lips, as she saw blood starting to gather in the corner of Zelena's mouth.

"I've been waiting to do that _all_ _day,_" she spoke.

Zelena just sent her a vicious glare.

"We will see, Rumpelstiltskin can't save you this time. He was wasting his time with you. You don't deserve him, you don't deserve _any_ of this," her voice grew louder with each accusation, "our mother couldn't see it, and neither can he," she chuckled lightly," but I'll show them, I'll show them _all_ that they are _wrong_!"

Regina honestly did not know what she was hearing.

"_That_ is what this is about?" She exclaimed in disbelief, "you're _jealous_ of me!?"

She felt magic crackling at the tips of her fingers, at the thought that _all_ this drama was caused because that former green toad was jealous of her? Of her _miserable_ life?

Bystanders gasped, as they too, felt how electricity was building between the two women.

"You still don't realize what you had. You never did!" Zelena yelled angrily, "you got everything I ever wanted, and you didn't even _deserve_ it! But I'm going to take it all away from you!"

And that was it. Enough. She would show this witch who she was up against. And with a flick of her wrist, Regina sent the traffic lights above them hurling towards the Witch. But Zelena calmly deflected the attack, and when she would think back to this moment later, Regina would be so certain that she hadn't seen Zelena whisper some spell, or even move to cast a spell, but she sure did feel the counter attack the Witch sent her way, when the force hit her in a full blow, sending her flying through the sky, until a car broke her fall.

"My Miata..." She heard someone exclaim, as she collided with the vehicle. And she vowed to herself, that she will find out who that had been, and when this was over, she would let him know what she thought of his loyalties. Sure, she was the evil queen, but she was fighting for these peasants, for heaven's sake. Was a little bit of compassion too much to ask for?

She wouldn't have to though, because Snow already reprimanded Doc for his inconsiderate exclamation.

"She is fighting for us!" She reprimanded him, while she set a step closer to the scene, to see if Regina was alright. Worry marked her face, as she watched how difficult it was for Regina to get off the car. This wasn't good.

She and Regina had been fighting for many years, either against each other, or alongside each other, and never did Regina show any signs of pain, or discomfort during any of those fights, no matter how bad it was. She would always just conceal it, and then afterwards, she would heal herself.

But this spell that Zelena had fired at Regina, had given Regina no time to defend herself, and the car she had landed on, showed how hard of a blow it had been, judging by the damage.

As her eyes followed Regina, Snow also saw that Zelena already had the next spell ready, whereas Regina was still trying to regain posture. She wanted to call out to Regina, to watch out, but it was too late already.

And with a malicious '_I_ was the better student.' Snow watched how Zelena sent Regina flying through the air. She heard Regina cry out, when her back collided with the glass of the clock tower, as she flew through it, accompanied by shocked gasps of the bystanders, who saw the Queen they all knew as practically invincible fly, through the air, as if she were nothing but a helpless feather.

Zelena immediately dissolved in a cloud of green smoke afterwards, no doubt to go to Regina, and instinctively Snow started to run to the clock tower, ignoring David worriedly calling out her name, as he and Emma reluctantly followed. He probably didn't want her to go, ever the protective knight, but Regina was on their side now, and Regina was in trouble, and she would not let her face this alone, not this time.

As they entered the clock tower, they were met by the sound of pained gasps coming from Regina, and frustrated furious cries coming from Zelena.

"What is she doing!?" Emma exclaimed, as they watched the scene above them.

"She's trying to take Regina's heart," Snow gasped, which was stating the obvious, seeing as Regina was on the ground, slumped against the wall, her face scrunched up in pain, her teeth gritted, as her body moved up with every pull from Zelena, whose hand was plunged inside her younger sister's chest.

"This isn't possible!" Zelena cried out in anger, "why can't I still take your heart?! What did you do to it? You little brat!"

And as much as the pain Regina was feeling was excruciating, Zelena may not be able to pull her heart out of her chest, but every squeeze was still very much felt, and as much as her fall through the window had hurt her back, and had made her head feel dizzy, she still noticed that things were not going according to plan for her sister. Robin had been right; the fact that _she_ couldn't pull out her own heart, meant _Zelena_ couldn't either.

And so, even though her face really just wanted to be contorted in a pained grimace, she managed to create an evil smirk on her face.

"Looks like my missing-year-self took the advice of my mother to heart; never bring your heart unprotected to a witch fight. Something you would have known...if she hadn't _abandoned_ you..."

And even though her voice broke over some of the words, from the pain, the taunting words had been enough to get to Zelena. And with a furious scream, she finally let go of her heart, and got back up.

"This isn't over!" She bellowed, "I _will_ get your heart!"

And just like that, she disappeared, which was to the Charming's cue that it was safe to get up to where Regina was still slumped against the wall, her head now leaned back, and her eyes closed.

"Regina, are you alright?" Snow asked worriedly, and she felt relief wash over her when Regina raised her head again, and opened her eyes, at least she was not unconscious.

"As well as I can be after a witch fight, thank you."

Regina grimaced as David helped her to stand up.

"We need to get you checked out by Whale," Emma said, as she got to Regina's other side, and helped her down the stairs together with David. Emma couldn't help but smile softly to herself; had this happened a year before, Regina would have rather died, than let her and David, of all people, help her. She had really changed, they _all_ had.

..

Robin was worriedly pacing back and forth across the forest floor, it was late already, almost midnight. Surely the witch fight was over already, Regina had said she would return to him when it would be over, yet no one had come. Not even the few merry men he had sent there to help out, if things would escalate.

What on earth could have happened? Surely the Witch wasn't so strong she had killed everyone who had been there, was she?

Just then, he heard some bushes rustle, someone was coming. Quickly, he turned around, expecting it to be Regina, his face thus falling a bit, when it was Arthur instead.

"What happened?" Was the first thing he asked, Arthur had been one of the men who had gone to observe the fight.

Arthur also was one of his closest friends, the man knew Robin through and through. And so, instead of answering Robin's question directly, he told his friend what he really wanted to know.

"She's in the hospital. Nothing severe, but they wanted the doctor to look after her just to be sure, and they are keeping her overnight. If you're quick, you can still slip in, and go see her before she sleeps."

Robin opened his mouth to ask what Arthur was talking about, but his friend shook his head and laughed.

"Please Robin, I have seen how you look at her, I'm no fool. Now go to her. I'll look after Roland."

Robin let out a chuckle, "thank you, my friend," he said gratefully, giving Arthur a pat on the back, as he walked past him.

**Enchanted Forest**

She let out a frustrated sigh, and let her arms fall alongside her body on the mattress. She was lying on her back, on her big comfortable bed, in the dead of night, and she was awake...again. After she had had a dream.._again_...about Robin, doing all kinds of delicious things to her..._again_.

Ever since he had kissed her out of the blue three days ago, she hadn't slept longer than two hours straight, before she would wake up, hot and sweaty, from dreaming about Robin doing things to her that made her blush uncharacteristically.

And it annoyed her, it annoyed her greatly, because it confused her. He had kissed her. Why? He said he cared about her, which was something she found hard to believe, yet at the same time, she found she wanted to believe it more than anything.

Because really, she was done fooling herself. They had been in the Enchanted Forest for two months now, she knew that thief for two _months_ now, and although they had definitely started off at the wrong foot, that had quickly changed, and she had found herself starting to care about the man, more than she felt comfortable with. First as a friend, but since their talks on those afternoons in the library, her heart was betraying her, making her to want Robin to be _more_ than a friend.

And she had denied it for the longest of times, telling her heart to quit, denying she even had those feelings. But every time he would smile at her, every time he would wink to her over a joke, every time she watched him with his son, and _especially_ every time they would share a story about their pasts, when he would take her hands in his, and he would look at her that way...that way which said that he completely understood what she was saying, and what she felt, and that he did not judge her for it...every time _that_ happened, she had felt herself fall a little further.

And she had fought it, because she had sworn to never let herself fall for someone ever again, not after what happened to Daniel. But then, she thought back to what Tinkerbelle told her in Neverland; that she really had a chance on true love again. That she had ruined, not only her own life, but also that of her supposed soul mate in the process. And she thought...well..._maybe_ she could try again with Robin, maybe he was her _third_ chance?

And that had been why she was so incredibly hurt, when he left her just like that, without even saying goodbye. And she had assumed it was because he did not care for her after all, not in the way she wanted him to care for her, and not as a friend either.

But then he kissed her.

And that meant something, didn't it? Because, yes he found her attractive, she had noticed his eyes on her more than once, and she had been wearing a rather revealing dress that day, but he hadn't acted upon whatever desire that might trigger in him in the two months before, so why would he do so now?

And he apologized after she pushed him away. As she thought back to it, she felt her breath quicken again, and when she closed her eyes, she felt his hands on her skin again.

And then she opened her eyes abruptly, because she was letting her thoughts take her into a completely different direction..._again_...and she let out another frustrated sigh.

She had to stop this, tomorrow would be different. Maybe she just needed a change of scenery, she had been locked up in this damned castle long enough now, for heaven's sake. If she wouldn't know any better, she would think she had jumped back to the past, and was living in this damned place as Leopold's wife again.

She would go out riding tomorrow, riding always helped her clear her mind. It would surely also help with this then, wouldn't it?

..

He had kissed her. How could he have been so stupid as to do _that_? She had been avoiding him ever since, she had sat down on the other end of the table at every meal, she hadn't made eye contact unless necessary, and honestly, he couldn't blame her for it.

Because he had kissed her, without even knowing if she wanted him to, and she still didn't know why he had left, which meant she was probably still angry with him for –what she thought to be was – him leaving her without saying anything.

He had tried to talk to her about it, to explain it to her, but to no avail. She kept avoiding him, changing her direction, as soon as she would see he was in the same hallway, or the same room as she was. Only Roland had managed to see her, once or twice. He had been over the moon that they were back, and that he could spend time with 'R'Gina' again.

Robin had even stooped as low as to ask Roland to bring Regina a message, of course to no avail. When Robin had eagerly asked Roland, upon his return, what Regina had said. The boy had send him an earnest look, had folded his hands behind his back, swung once or twice back and forth from his heels to his toes, and said;  
"Papa, Regina says, that if you think that a cute five year old with dimples, is all it takes to win her over, you are sor'ly mistaken. And that it is r'pulsive that you even used me for that...Oh, and that I should not say that I will help you bring messages to people again, without asking for candy as a r'ward..."

At the end of the message, he let go of his hands, stopped wiggling, dropping the frown as well, and with the most adorable, and innocent look he asked, "Papa, what does r'pulsive mean?"

And Robin had just laughed, as he scooped his son up in a hug, and shook his head as he thought about Regina. She was so incredibly stubborn, but if he was honest, that was something he liked a lot about her.

**I'm sorry guys, I wanted to write more, but I promised to update on Saturday, and I have two crazy weeks at university; on top of that the pain in my joints is back (it's a long story) so typing hurts today. I had this written already throughout the week, and I was planning on writing more today, but that didn't happen.**

**So next chapter we will see the Robin and Regina conversation in the Enchanted Forest, yaaaaaay :D.**

**Please leave me a review :D?**

**x**

**Metope**


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